Bill Tindall, E.Tn.
There is no reason I can think of nor literature data to support the hypothesis that a stainless steel chisel has less friction against wood than carbon steel. I think Wiley and I compared and reported these results.

There are enough variables convoluted in this experiment I don't see how a cause of the minor differences in whacks can be assigned. To list a few- bevel behind the convex bevel, profile of the convex bevel, shape of the damage as this shape affects penetration(I'll bet folds are worse than chips), damage vs whacks.

If number of whacks revealed something about damage where it could be a surrogate for photography there would be a reason to explore this possibility. I don't see this correlation likely. So, what use can be made of the number of whacks results?

I do like the comparative photo presentation. Worth 2000 words but the impact is obscured by the whacking table.