Chip, pit or any damage removal is a about the same if doing all on bench stones. Grind it out by honing and the bigger the problem the coarser the stone to start will save you a lot of time. If it is going to mean some serious steel removal I will sometimes tape the spine while I do the heavy work and then when about done at that stage of remediation I remove the tape and proceed as normal. It just saves eating the spine up.
After sleeping on it, I think that I will follow your advice and start over starting with my 1k with tape. No better time than now to learn how to deal with this condition.
BTW, I paid close to nothing for the blade, so I have nothing to lose, and I can always search for another Imperial that is in better condition.