It's not that important and I will duck back off of the forum after this thread, but you are right. 

In the process of making tools, I encountered steels too tough or too soft. 52100 is so tough that the edge will begin to deflect but it won't let go - at higher hardness than the early 1800s chisels are "dry" and let go of anything first. 

I had high hopes for 52100 because of its toughness, but it increases the edge cross section immediately where as very tiny bits of a stronger but less tough edge steel (or even equal strength, but less tough) will not increase the edge cross section. 

Straightening a bent edge is something that sounds nice. to actually work better is something that would have to rely on circumstances that don't exist. It always created more work malleting, even before the rolling was severe and the only way to get past it is to set the edge up in a way that it wouldn't roll. That's a concession in initial edge steepness that also causes a problem with effort. 

All good chisels don't chip that easily, and when they do, whatever they let go of is gone and not large. The same is true for a good slicing knife.