Interesting ... I thought a component of honyaki was that the visible hamon, shows how well the HT was done. (And the polishing there after brings it out)That said, I got a great long lasting edge from 2/3. It's a shame, one wouldn't hold an edge, but had a damn near perfect work pony grind.
I’ve used and thinned a couple Honyaki ... I usually think why do I put myself through this every time I get to that stage. But then using, and knowing it’s A pretty special blade makes it more worth it. Are you really going to work on a cheap blade to make it beautiful? Not really, and as you work on it more, it becomes an extension of your arm more.