There may not be much difference in the grit size in the arkansas soft, and hard, stones, but they do cut differently, and about as you have predicted. Knife sharpening is a 3 stage process, and you can't cut corners unless you intend to sharpen that knife all day long as you use it.
The first step is to put a shallow bevel on both sides of the blade- say about 25 degree total angle. When you have worked a burr up on the edge on both sides, change from the " soft " stone, to the hard.
Second step:Now increase the angle to about 40 degrees, and work up a burr on both sides of the blade, one side at a time. It will be a very small burr, because the hard stones are cutting only a very thin edge.
Third Step: Use an old belt, or straping made of a strong fiber, and strop the edge on the belt to remove that fine burr edge on the blade.
You sharpen the blade by pulling or pushing the blade edge into the stone, as if you were cutting off a thin layer. You strop the blade by drawing the back of the blade over the belt, so that you are pulling the burrs off the blade's edge.
When you have removed all the burrs, you will have a very fine edge, that is supported by that early bevel( stage one), and has a stropped edge that has no chips or cuts in it, and will do a lot of work for you before you have to return to the fine stone. Use a good rust dissolving oil, like Liquid Wrench, or Break free on the soft stone during use. That floats the large chips of steel in the oil, and makes them much easier to remove. That will help dissolve the fine edges of chips of metal that get caught in the surface of the stone, and make cleaning the stone easier.
Use the hard stone dry, but clean it by using the rust- dissolving oils on it to loosen the bits of steel that get into its surface.
Keep your stones clean. If you see shine glinting off the surface, that is caused by steel bits embedded in the surface, and you need to get them out for the stone to be able to cut well.You may have to coat the stone with Liquid Wrench, or Break free and leave it there for several hours for the additives in those oils to dissolve the steel bits. I have left my stones sit out with oil on them over night, and then cleaned them off in the morning. I currently have a " Washita " or medicum grit stone, and a Black Arkansas, or " Hard ( fine grit) stone, which I use to sharpen knives, and chisels, etc. Hard stones come in different colors now, than Black, so buy them on the base of how smooth they feel, and not the color. I have seen hard stones colored red, green, and brown, that were every bit as good as my old Black stone.
I do have a cheap, coarse, Carburundum stone I picked up at a flea market for a $1, and I use that when I have to take off a lot of metal fast. It is not used in sharpening any knife, but I have used it to sharpen the edge of a shovel, and to take a terrible dink out of an old axe so I did not have to use my grinder to do that job.