To say its true would be understatement
SS, Thank You for posting.
For at least a year, I thought I had the idea down, only to find there was more to it. Glen said so, I thought I got it. I was full of fertilizer.
At 480 blades (mostly still a beginner), I'm trying to stay really basic - almost foolish sounding about it. It seems I learn more from the bevel set than almost any other part of honing. I'm getting more aggressive about it. If there's a high spot, I'll let a finger from the non-stroking hand rest on the high spot while stroking. This (and most of what I know) will sound familiar to those that pay attention to the old bulls. Its not something to get prematurely proud about. It seems to be putting me face to face with how few blades are symmetric. The ones that no amount of fussing with will produce a great shave are the wavy ones. Pastes & sprays simply mask the blades defects. The rest are certainly my own defects.
FWIW, nothing has helped my edges as much as staying tunnel-visioned on the bevel. Having to repeatedly re-slurry a chosera 1k that gets a bit glazed over is worth it, but makes me wonder if I should have done more on the dmt325.
'Hope others can learn this alot faster than I did.