Mike first off, if you're using Japanese water stones you'll want to know their P or US equivalent here is a table I found.
I took some advice from Dave over at KF a while ago and some of the other guys ... anyhow, I was told to divide the microns in half and that should be my next stone in the progression. So, if I was at 9 micron coming off the belts, I'd want to start at 9 microns on a stone as they cut differently and move down from there to a 4.5 or 5 micron ( I believe a J stone in the 5k range like the Rikia would work) and you can continue from there down to .5 micron with stone and down to .25 with diamond spray and sub .25 using smooth leather.
Personally I set my primary bevel on belts and start at 500g with a Bester, 1k Naniwa, 2k Glass Stone, 5k Rikia, 8K Glass Stone, 10k Naniwa, Kytayama followed by: stropping on a felt pad, Chromium on leather, .25 Diamond on scrubbed bull, then smooth leather and lastly I strop on sugar cane paper. But honestly, you get a darn good edge at 5k followed by stropping. The rest of my progression comes from an obsession with sharp rather than practicality. Hope this helps.
Particle
Size
µ U.S Japanese
0.5 12000 25000 Chromium Oxide Polishing Compound, Moor White Ceramic
1 5000 10000 Honyama Awasi (Brown Stone), Linde C Compound (Aluminum Oxide Powder)
2 3000 6000 Karasu (Blue Stone), Awasi Toshi
3 2000 4000 Uchigumori, Extra Fine White Ceramic, Green Chrome Rouge, Spyderco Extra Fine Ceramic
6 1200 2500 Ao-To (Blue Stone), Spyderco Fine Ceramic
10 1000 2000 Hard Black Arkansas, Extra-Fine Diamond Hone, Lansky Ultra-Fine Hone
15 800 1500 Koma-Nagura, Hard White Arkansas, Extra Fine Diamond, Medium Ceramic, Moor Black Ceramic
20 600 1000 Soft Arkansas, Lansky Fine Hone, Ultra Fine Scotch-Brite Pad, Spyderco Medium Ceramic
25 480 800 Chu-Nagura, Washita Stone, Fine Diamond
35 320 500 Kaisei (Natural Sandstone), Fine India, Medium Diamond, Super/Extra Fine Scotch-Brite Belt/Pad
45 280 400 Medium India, Fine Crystolon (Silicon Carbide), Coarse Diamond, Lansky Medium Hone
60 220 300 Binsui Coarse Stone, Extra Coarse Diamond Hone, Very Fine Scotch-Brite Belt/Pad
80 180 260 Fine Scotch-Brite Belt/Pad
90 150 220 Medium Crystolon (Silicon Carbide), Coarse India, Medium Scotch-Brite Belt/Pad
110 120 180 Arato (Natural Sandstone Or Carborundum), Lansky Course Hone
150 100 150 Coarse Crystolon (Silicon Carbide)
180 80 90 Lansky Extra Coarse Hone, Coarse Scotch-Brite Belt/Pad