Oil stone vs. sandpaper

For sharpening forceps and spring scissors I use "translucent grade" Arkansas oil stone purchased from Dan's Whetstone Company, Inc.

My friend asked me which is finer, the oil stone or 2000 grit sand paper. Which is better for sharpening forceps and scissors?
So I compared them.

This is 2000 sandpaper with the tips of my favorite spring scissors.
The grain itself seems fine enough for sharpening, but the surface is not very smooth. Looks bumpy. It may be OK for sharpening a fine tip.
When I used it, however, I found it too soft to polish a sharp edge. The paper dents slightly and that blunts the edge. Just a paper, but it felt like a sponge at this scale. It's like sharpening a razor blade with a sheet of mud. The edges got chamfered, which is not good.

Now, this is the oil stone.

It looks like the stone surface is out of focus, but actually it's not.

It turned out that the surface of the extra-fine grade oil stone is smoother than 2000 sandpaper.
And much harder. This is important. The polishing material has to be solid hard to make a good sharp edge.