The issue at hand is the skill to be able to tell when the bevel is properly set. It is not that easy to tell for the untrained eye. 45 seconds on a finer grit made it so very easy to see where my problem was and not be guessing. I honestly don't see this as the giant pitfall you do. I found it easier to see the issue this way than with a sharpie. I did three razors this AM, two were simple razors to do, basic straight razor. Last one was a very narrow smiling simi wedge. While setting the edge on it, one end looked good to the eye and even looked good under the loop. 30 seconds on the 4k and 30 seconds on the 8k and back to the loop and I could instantly see where the problem was. One side of the blade was polishing about 75-80% of the bevel for about half an inch at the tail. It was not apparent to the naked eye. Back on the 1k, a little extra attention on that side of the blade and it was set.

This is nothing more to me than what we do with a sharpie except it was more apparent to my eye this way. YMMV