I'm finding that I pretty consistently have trouble getting the toes and heels of my blades as sharp as they should be. The middle of the blade will be just fine, but one or both of these areas just won't cooperate. I usually end up having to do some circular honing on just the trouble spot to get the whole blade sharp.

I typically do X-patterns on a 3-inch Norton. I will sometimes rock the blade during the stroke, which helps in some cases and not in others.

What are some things I could try to fix this annoying problem? If I could get the blade even in the first place, I could probably cut 30 to 60 minutes off the time it takes me to hone a blade...

Thanks for any suggestions,
Josh