Butter writes:

I thought i
would hold off trying to get everything close to .002 till i saw if
anyone with some actual knowledge had any advice.

You must have a proper clearance for effective cutting. Too much or too
little is bad. Rule of thumb is 5 to 8 percent of material thickness. Your
0.002" figure will thus cover about 0.020" to 0.050", which is a useful
range for typical work. Adjust the tool to keep this all across the blade
width, not just at the ends, but especially at the starting end.