I haven't gotten around to making a nice board with slots for each hone, and for some reason this setup wasn't obvious to me so I thought I'd share. Front is against a bench dog, back is pressed against the rubber foot of the edge of the bench. It is easy to swap in the different hones, and doesn't scoot around.
(Still figuring out how to put a burr on that card scraper though.)
I have an old burnishing tool I got from an estate sale that works really well. It has an almost sharkskin texture to it, almost like it's been sandblasted by really fine grit.
As far as how big the bur should be, I prefer for it to just be able to catch on your nail, but not necessarily hold onto it.
I might have to give the diamond plates another shot, I'm guessing there's a big difference in quality between brands. I have some ceramic stones, but I hate getting my tools wet in any given situation.
I've only done this once, and like an idiot I thought it was a knot and backed it up and ran at it again like 2 more times......