I've got a few planes now that I need to actually get serious about sharpening. Okay, a couple, but I'm "watching" a couple others that a friend has bought that needs to be hidden from prying eyes at his house.
I've got a 4.5 and a 60.5, and the friend bought a 4 and a 7. I've yet to start on my 4.5, but I've got the back of the 60.5 flat and mirror shiny. Can still see a scratch here and there under 10X magnification, but can see a nice reflection otherwise. Using a Veritas Mk. II honing guide, I've gone over the face of the blade with an 800 grit waterstone and have drawn out the burr on the cutting edge. This is on a 25 degree setting and haven't touched the micro-bevel yet. Do I need to continue on with the 4000/8000 stones on the entire face? Or is it pointless to hone the entire face of the blade since the micro-bevel is what will actually be doing the cutting? I'll definitely go to the 8000 on the micro-bevel, just wasn't sure whether doing the entire face had any benefit.
And how do I get rid of the burr? Flip it on it's back and repeat the process I used to flatten the back? My buddy sent me a PDF from Lie Nielsen that I can't seem to find on my own that says to place a thin ruler on the edge of your stone, then put your blade on it and hone it by stroking it on and off the edge of the stone. By honing it on and off the stone, they claim you avoid the risk of rounding off the front edge of the blade. I just hadn't ever heard of this method. Thanks for any help!