tippit, I agree with the points you've brought up. I had planned to play with Grizzlys to begin with, since they are what I have on hand. Instead of doing the Ashby proscribed 25* I thought I'd try more along the lines of 30* to compensate for less material directly behind the edge.
I know Ashby didn't arrive at 25* by accident, but I cant help wondering if reducing the CUTTING edge angle (to 25*) is more, or less, important than increasing the "back angle" to 155* where the bevel ends. We know 30* can be just as sharp...and by going convex, we don't give up any strength, in essence remove that 155* angle that I'm sure eats up some of your KE/Momentum.
Needless to say, I'm going to have to try it if I buy the machine.