david weaver
I don't understand why a hollow grind is "extra trouble". The wheel on the grinder is good for years, it takes very little time to make two or three passes on the wheel, cool the edge with the palm of my hand. I have a kalamazoo belt grinder, too. I use it on cambered irons, but it is not better for sharpening chisels or smoother irons than a grinder.

I'm not aware of a factory that puts a good edge on a tool. Not even razors are shave ready, and, yes, someone does sharpen and strop those by hand at the factory - they still come up short presumably due to budgeted time to do the job.

Closest I've gotten to to factory sharp *good* is japanese tools, I'm assuming the blacksmith or apprentice runs them across stones, not something automated. That said, a laminated tool with a wrought iron back is designed to be sharpened differently than a western tool that is entirely hardened. Plus, even though they are sharpened, they are not to a level where a cabinetmaker would use them to smooth, even if they're not heavily lacquered.

What I don't follow at all is how creating and maintaining a hollow is somehow a sacrifice. It is, instead, the fastest way to work precisely up to a bevel and still not hit the end of the bevel. You can do the same thing with a belt grinder if you maintain two bevels, but it is not faster than a grinder and two stones, especially if you consider that the hollow is ground once per four heavy sharpenings, and less than that if the use is light.

Nobody contends that a hollow grind is stronger than a flat bevel. At the same time, I've seen folks time and again descdribe how the edge is weakened, but I've never seen anyone say they broke the edge of a tool because of a hollow. If it's not weakened to a state that makes a practical difference, then there's no sense even saying that. It just confuses beginners.