Thanks Euclid you were right on - it was chippy. After doing some investigating it seems the 8k side of my norton 4/8 is causing chips within 5 to 10 strokes. Like a chip with a streak up the bevel here and there, like a comet with a tail. I think it got dirty somehow or some tiny bits of crud into it. I'm always very careful to keep things clean but I will have to do some work to that side before I trust it again. The important thing I learned was what that looked like magnified matched with the way the shave felt.