Ah, very cool. I've considered seeing if I could build a shaft extension for a grinder to give it effectively four wheel mounting points, my only real theoretical gripe with the wheels is the limitation of only two grits per grinder. I'm amazed that only three grits gave an polish that fine. From solid-dull on my belt, I'd probably use a 120, 320, 15u, 9u and a couple leathers to get there. Be about the same time, probably, just a lot more belt changes. I prefer to use the heaviest grit I can for the edge I want, it's faster and heats the blade less.
I sure hear you on the powered/manual systems, though. As much as I love my EdgePro, it sees perhaps one in thirty knives I do. Unless I REALLY need an edge polished down to micron pastes and things like that, I head for the belt. I've got leather belts with green and white polish, by the time it comes off of there, it's sharp enough to do darn near anything you'd ever want a blade to do. And with that it's still only a belt-change away (about ten seconds, give or take) from the 80-grit belt I use for re-grinding broken tips. I've only been sharpening powered for a month or so now, and I'm already hooked for good. The EP will always have a spot on my shelf, next to the Sharpmaker and the bench stones, of course. I'm actually very slowly easing into semi-pro sharpening as a part-time job, and that belt grinder looks to pay for itself very quickly! I'd imagine the pay-off on paper wheels would be even faster, given their lower initial cost.
