My thought is that if you're seeing a burr after some continued use, you've got fatigued metal at the edge, or a wire edge to start with, and you should take the knife to a coarse stone to remove that weak metal and start a fresh edge.
Re: the OP, I haven't sharpened my main knife (white #2) in many weeks either. It's gotten fairly dull, like less that 75-70%, and frustrating to use. What I have noticed, though, is that the edge settled, as JBro puts it, and maintained a certain level of sharpness for quite some time. It reminds me of what several people have posted re: PM steels and how they loose their inital sharpness quickly, but then settle for a length of time, before further noticeably degrading. Seems to me now that most if not all steels will exhibit this characteristic, just in (minor) varying degrees depending on steel, bevel angle, use, environment, etc. I've not noticed any deformation of the edge or wire edges/burrs.
I have noticed that the sharper the edge, the quciker it looses that initial sharpness. When I strop on boron, chro, and leather, that smooth shaving sharp edge doesn't last long. When I just finish w/ light strops on the 8K GS, the edge isn't as smooth, has some bite, and seems to keep that character longer than if I went to the loaded/leather strops.
I really, really like that fresh edge feeling, but I can live with an 85-90% edge most of the time. Bottom line for me is if I want that keen, fresh, edge, I just need to sharpen more often. Funny thing is, even at 75% my main J-knife is still way sharper than the German steel I was using pre-Japanese Steel Revelation.