Winston
I tried buffing another plane blade. This was a PM-V11 blade in a bevel-down smoothing plane with a 45-degree bed. To avoid clearance issues, I lowered the bevel angle from 32 degrees to 25. I buffed the blade with the white rouge and the soft Ryobi wheel. As in my previous experiment with a buffed plane, the surface was super smooth.

One problem, though: after about 20 feet of planing white pine, I started noticing some tracks in the wood. Under the scope, I could see some big chips in the blade.

The missing chunks were significantly larger than the region that had been rounded over from buffing. Clearly, this isn't making for a more durable blade. I think that, in order for that to happen, I would have to have a larger rounded region, which will involve more time buffing or a more aggressive compound. But I think I'll also have to increase the bevel angle on the stones.

I should mention that with this particular blade, I have had chipping issues in the past, even with a 30-degree bevel (and no buffing).