thomd
>I don't agree it's of little concern that there is a hollow. It may not be of concern in specific case. However it's a whole other story.

On the accelerating wear thing I think it's the purpose and the result. In practical terms the way the grinding proceeds is that one cuts until there is a burr from a 60 grit wheel or thereabouts, this usually produces quite a significant loss in chisel length. That's what I would call the result. But surely that's what we want, for the sharpening to be fast and effective. It's a very good way to proceed with a HSS cutter for a machine tool where the blank is perhaps 2-6 bucks. We are working a material in the case of Japanese chisels that is somewhere in the range of silver-gold by weight.

The secondary objective is often getting the hollow grind so it is easier to read the subsequent hand sharpening, and faster to sharpen. Cutting rate is relative to the PSI on the surface, and the steel cuts faster by hand when there are only two lines worth of to remove. That's the stated objective, faster sharpening. And again it means increased wear.

If you are suggesting the purpose to grinding is to remove less material than on finishing stones, that's quite a sales pitch.