I'll try cutting down passes. Thing is, if I do frequent shaving, I get irritated starting by the first pass. Though I guess that's damage due to the prior shave.
When I hone, I inspect my blade with a microscope. Last time I honed, it looked real smooth... no little chips at 100x. The tools I have are Norton 4k/8k, Spyderco Ultra-fine, and pasted paddle strops (1 and 1/2 micron). I will occasionally use the paddle strops to get more out of the razor before re-honing. I have a tough beard so the razor dulls fairly quickly (month or so).