If the back of the blade, or at least near the edge is flat, you don't necessarily have to go with 'ruler trick'. you can just rub the back (or only flat area of the back) until you can't feel the burr anymore. Ruler trick is nice to skip on back flattening, but if the back of the blade is already flat (either because you've done it or came flat, like LV blades...they are really flat), skip the ruler. Just one less process to be concerned about in that case. Either way, I think near the edge of the blade should be flat anyway. You don't want gunk jamming up between cap iron and blade.
As for face bevel, if you are going to add micro bevel, do the face until your next higher grit can easily add micro bevel at the edge, meaning it is able to remove any trace of the previous grit without too much effort or time. If you have 4000/8000 and 1000, I'd just do the face with #1000, and then do the micro bevel with 4000 and then 8000. After that, I'd simply strop or hone on 8000 occasionally until it needs to go back to the stone (meaning the edge is crapped out and needs more than stropping or honing).
A bit off topic. I haven't particularly considered micro beveling as a way to give edge added durability. I simply find doing the whole bevel every time I need to sharpen as a dull chore. I'd rather work with 1/100" of metal along the edge than the whole face. Not so much of a problem with O1 blades, but for A2 and M2, especially thick ones, doing the whole face every time isn't a fun task. For these, hollow grind really eases the process
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Originally Posted by Sam Takeuchi
