david weaver
This is something that's bothered me for a while, but I've never seen anything definitive about it - just speculation.

Does anyone have any documentation about whether or not the type of abrasive has a beneficial or negative effect on edge life when a similar degree of sharpness is attained?

It's no secret that I've bought just about every type of stone, and some of them I've seen stuff bordering on hocum where the seller claims that a type of stone makes for longer lasting edges (it's usually attributed to natural stones that don't make grooves as deep).

I have counted strokes off of a shapton 15k before to compare irons, and I don't believe it, but I'd like to see an opinion on it.

Somewhere around 1 micron edges or so is where I don't see any beneficial effect of going finer on a plane iron (because the wear will blast off the fine edge in a hurry, and 1 micron will leave wear more than unform enough).

I have never been able to tell anything other than that an edge that is less sharp will be dull faster. Has there been any scientific documentation related to how that edge is prepared and how resultant wear occurs? (i.e., if the edge has relatively narrow deep grooves like shaptons or diamonds leave, vs. gradual grooves like coticules, arkansas stones or natural japanese stones might leave).