The fact that Bruno, Glen, and Robert say that the blade can be successfully honed with tape, to compensate for the wear, or without tape to bring the honing flat back, would indicate to me that it is not a paperweight after all. IME hone wear is many times a cosmetic issue more than a deal breaker, depends on the extent. Taking into account the vast experience of the aforementioned gentlemen with honing/restoring and actually in Bruno's case forging razors, I would try what they suggest, one way, with tape, or the other, sans tape. YMMV.