So, typically, I try to hone through any pitting to get a clean edge. I might tolerate some on the bevel, but not right near the edge where the stresses of shaving and stropping might cause it to collapse and break that nice clean line.
However...
I have this one razor. I used it today. I quite like it: it has very little wear and was well ground so it has a very thin bevel. It shaves well and it holds an edge. Indeed, it's one of the few edges I've put a dozen shaves on. But I have a confession: I left a tiny pit at the edge. Because there was probably going to be another and another and... well, usually I'd just take some metal off until we were in reasonable steel. I didn't want to this time, so I left all this (which you can only see at all on one side):
...and while I had a mostly clean edge, it did have a small pit at the edge. But nothing major, it's not a serrated knife or anything. So I went with it to see what happened. Every shave I made a point to see if the heel was giving me more irritation than elsewhere on the blade or anything like that and ...nah. It's fine.
Which reminded me of this post at Science of Sharp where you can see, based on the scale, how very much bigger a hair is than a razor edge. And I think my skin is at least as thick as a hair or I'd be bleeding way more often. A quick search confirms even the thinnest skin (eyelids apparently) has something like 50 microns of epidermis.
So maybe I shouldn't be so surprised that I can't notice a difference from some tiny pit on the edge? Maybe I should more often err on the side of leaving steel on a nice blade even if it's not so great?
To be fair, when I decided to keep the pit I did take steps to mitigate it: I was sure to use a coticule with slurry as prefinisher and do a generous number of laps and finish on a JNAT with yet more slurry involved with the sense that the slurry would help round out any rough edges. And the razor was treated with Evap-o-rust in an ultrasonic as the pits might otherwise be hiding some active rust. With the same concern in mind I do also make even more careful a point than usual to strop this on linen right after I shave to ensure it's fully dry.