It happened to the razor I was honing today, but it has happened before. I'm pretty sure my hones are flat as I was able to fix the edge after I caught my mistake. I lap them before every use, too. Pencil grids and all. Out of the 6 or 7 I have in my progression, I only have one natural stone, and it's the biggest one I have. Most of them are 2 or 2 1/2 in wide. I'm pretty sure it's my technique. I think I have it narrowed down to what the problem is-I think I'm placing the razor too far over the hone to where the shoulder is touching the hone and the edge of the razor is touching the opposite edge of the hone, creating 2 points of contact, instead of having the blade lie flat on the surface of the stone. When I start the 'x pattern', the edge of the hone cuts a grove in the blade that's usually 1/2 an inch long at most. And depending on how smooth the edge is, it takes out a chip sometimes. I can see the light reflecting off part of the edge at one angle. When I rotate the blade a little I can see where the bevel is at a different angle at a different spot along the edge (the 1/2 in portion). I probably shouldn't watch TV when I'm doing this, but that's just the way it goes.

So, there's the problem. Any ideas on how to avoid this altogether? Other than pay more attention? Does anybody else have this problem/heard of this problem? I only have a handful of razors I'm working with, so a custom adjustment on 3 or 4 razors wouldn't be a problem for me. Does anybody grind or hone down the shoulder a bit to avoid this situation?