Thread: What's the trick?

That blade will not be a good one to learn to hone with.
The first pictures shows a lot of hone wear on the spine at the toe end - so you don't have an even spine to set the bevel with.
It doesn't even look like the tip on that side has hit the stone.
The second picture shows a lot of hone wear on the spine in the middle, which I bet has led to a frowning blade.

Can it be honed? Yes. Do you want to learn to hone with it? Probably not.

My advice would be to put that one aside for now and get another beater razor to try to learn with. That one is going to drive you nuts to learn on.