I hear what you are saying about a coarser grit. The 180 will definitely take longer, but I'm almost there now. I have a chip (was a defect in the chisel) in the corner of my 1.5 inch chisel and about .125 needs to be ground off the chisel to get past it and back to a full square edge. Today I am going to set up on the surface grinder here at work (with coolant) and it will probably take a couple hours to grind it down. I'm setting up at 25 degrees.
One thing I was taught at my introductory timber framing class...
"Perfection and Grace puts a smile on your face". Corny but true to a craftman.