David Weaver
It's not an improvement over stones so far, due to the following:
* I look for a very narrow range of clearance angles on most planes to maximize time between sharpening and minimize same to the edge
* the use of this method solves edge damage due to impact to some extent. Plane irons don't really have that issue
* there's a lot of wear on the non bevel side of an iron that should be removed on a relatively flat surface. This doesn't address that

I think the chance on improving the process on a civilized plane is pretty slim.

I do buff the face of beading plane irons now, though. No tearout.