I posted this on my blog but no one reads my blog so I thought I'd crosspost :-).
This is just an observation and I've wondered if others have noticed the same.
I have Japanese chisels in both #1 and #2 White Steel either takes an incredible edge straight off the stone and the edge will hold up very well. I also have some newer western chisels with Chrome Steel, straight off the stones the edge is good but it will also fracture and dull very quickly. If I strop on some leather charged with compound the edge feels the about the same as before stropping but is much slower to fracture and dull.
I expect there is some slight "dubbing" from the stropping that makes the edge less prone to fracture. With the Japanese chisels I suspect they may have a finer grained steel and are not as prone to fracture.
Whatever, just an observation.