Quote Originally Posted by guitstik View Post
My suggestions will differ greatly from the majority of those here, but for starting out I would suggest getting three Arkansas stones, coarse, fine and extra fine. You could add the extra, extra fine stone if you wanted but it isn't necessary. Look here for a kit Arkansas Sharpening Stone Kits with 3 Stones
I can guarantee that others will chime in and tell you to get the Norton or Naniwa stones, those are all fine stones but I would stick with the natural stones and learn on them before moving on to the more "exotic" rocks. That's just my two cents, now I am broke from RAD overload.
I started with Arkansas stones because I had then from many years of knife sharpening. They can put an awsome edge on a razor but they are slow and I could see an inexperienced person having problems. I now use Norton 1K, 4K/8K and a Naniwa 12KSS. I will soon be adding a black or trans Arkansas as a finisher.