Just posted this on another thread but it is appropriate here too.





The third picture at the site; https://jendeindustries.wordpress.co...razors-part-1/ shows some chips at the same places where gouges show further back on the bevel (IIRC these pictures are a knife edge not a razor, but for discussion it does not matter) I used to think that this type of chip was actually just an exposed groove, but it is clear that the groove is completely honed out just behind the edge. I now believe that the steel does get damaged when the edge hits the high particle straight on and then the particle goes on to cut a gouge in the bevel. In a softer hone, a rogue particle has a better chance of fracturing or simple moving out of the way and doing less impact on the edge.