For all you advanced honers and honemeisters, how long on average does it take you to get an eBay razor from very dull to shave-sharp? (Assuming it has no major nicks to work out.)

I'm a little frustrated right now with how long it takes me to go from starting a blade to having a good enough edge to start doing pyramids. I might spend a couple of hours on the 1K and 4K grits before I can get the edge popping hairs along its entire length.

I don't consistently have problems in one place, although the toe and heel are more often a problem than the middle.

Right now I have a razor that was in decent shape when I got it. The half of the blade near the toe is popping hairs, but the heel half won't. I've probably spent two hours going back to the 1K Norton, then back to the 4K Norton...

On other blades, it's the toe that's a problem.

Usually I end up doing a lot of circles or back-and-forth honing on the trouble spot to fix things. It seems to work eventually, but it takes forever.

I don't think I'm overhoning the problem spot, because I test frequently, and the sharp part usually stays sharp, and the dull part stays dull.

Any suggestions?

Josh