Honing steels, just don't (or not)

Robert Ptacek said:
I like outdoors55.He is a very skilled sharpener.The steels I used in a meat packing plant were smooth and polished. Working on a high speed boning line is different than home use.Your hands and knife are wet and covered in fat.There is no time for his processes.You have seconds to steel and move on to the next piece.I steeled frequently and though I have no microscopic proof the polished steel I believe was continuously polishing the edge.It would stay sharp for hours and hours.
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Yeah I work in a kitchen and on rotisserie days I'm now trimming up 100 chickens, necks off, wings off, excess skin and fat removed and I use a steel and it definitely works. I can get through all those birds and the knife will shave arm hair at the end. Got quite a few steels, F. Dick are great, I have the Polish steel and a few of the fine cuts but I recently got a steel from Egginton Group with a helical cut which puts a very toothy edge on which I find better for working meat. I only sharpen my butchery knives on a Medium India or even a Coarse Carborundum oilstone.
 
I occasionally use an oval burnishing steel -- it's smooth, around 64 HRC, and seems to work best on simple high carbon steels or low carbide stainless grades (Sandvik etc.). Doesn't seem to have much effect on high carbide content super steels, though.
 
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