Honing parts of a blade

Hi all.
I just got my Norton 4K/8K and a flattening stone from Howard at The Perfect Edge, and I've been doing little else but honing for the past week. I am a noob, however, and therefore I'm not sure that I'm doing everything correctly. My blades sure are getting sharp, so I guess that's a good sign. But I have a question:

I have one straight razor whose blade is noticeably dull near the heel,and I have another razor that has two very minor nicks in the blade near the top. Both these problems persist despite repeated honings. Is there some way to just hone one area of a blade? The rest of the blades on both razors seem shave ready, so I'd rather not chance overhoning them.

Help!

In my experience it can be very difficult to focus on only part of the blade. It is better to take the whole edge down to a lowest common denominator and build it all up together, equally. If you are experiencing an overall lack of progress on one part of your blades, then you might be mistreating that part during your honing stroke.

For the edge with the nicks, draw little circles on your 4k hone until it is all smoothed out and pyramid back to shaving sharp.

Are you using the X hone method? I like to advocate a slight Rolling Hone motion from heel to tip throughout the honing stroke. I find it helps me get the tips a little sharper.

FWIW

X

Another good trick is the magic marker test. Use a Sharpie to draw a line along the bevel--color it black. Then do about five honing strokes, and check the marker. Usually, you'll find that the trouble spot is still black, while the rest of the bevel is clean. Then try to adjust your honing stroke to get the black part to hit the hone on each stroke.

If the razor is warped or unevenly worn, you may have to use some unusual strokes to get it honed... Don't be afraid to experiment. :)

Josh