Jumping from 1200 grit straight to the strop is another thing you don't see very often; apparently it works.

I was wrong on this - a quick search showed me that a Hard Arkansas stone is about 1000 grit, and for years I went from that stone to a (rouge) strop.
It just shows how the 'sharpening landscape' has been changed by the easy availablilty of very fine grit stones, I guess.