Well, it took me some time for honing the above shown Bismarck, but got it finally shave ready. And what can I say - the shave was fantastic. Really! Had to adapt my shaving technique a little, but all in all a pleasure to use that I didn't expect.
So my statement is: Nearly nothing can destroy a real good blade. Not even a bad honer.
Good steel, well hardened is normal for old blades. But also the grind is great. Even though the edge goes through nearly all parts and different thickness of the razor, the honing line gets straight, without nicks, the razor was perfectly ground from stabilizer to the tip. No waves or unregularities that would have lead to an uneven honing line or more worse, unhoned thicker parts in the edge.
Honed a lot of the new grind razors from companies today, that looked perfect, but the grind is awful and wavy and you don't get the edge equally sharp over the whole length without regrinding the lower part towards the bevel.
So gentleman, if the look of a razor isn't everything to you, you just want a good shave - safe money and buy one of the old messed up ugly dugglings for a dollar and hone them right.

Regards Peter