sharpening steels ( as in the rod not the material)

No. I have several sharpening tools, but I use my Hewlette Jewel Stik 1-2-3 more than any of them.
 
I think it important in this discussion to distinguish between the three types of things, frequently called "steels".

These days, just about any roughly cylindrical, rod shaped tool, with a handle like a dagger or whatever, tends to be referred to as a steel.

The three types of these to which I refer are.

1. Meat Packer's Steel. A smooth steel rod with no grooves or abrasive coating.
2. Butcher's Steel. A grooved steel rod (gooved lengthwise) with no abrasive coating.
3. The Abrasive "Steels". Sometimes actually steel coated with diamonds. Sometimes abrasive ceramic rods. Variations on these themes.

I used to be a Butcher's Steel guy. I have a beauty that my grandfather used...he was a farmer who did his own butchering. The butcher's steel is great for maintaining a fairly toothy edge on a butcher knife for kitchen and/or food cutting applications...like butchering. I think many will agree that "hair popping" and a toothy edge are not compatible concepts. Hair popping is usually associated with a push cut. Accomplished with a very refined, polished edge. Some will say that when cutting meat, one does not want that polished edge...one wants that edge toothy.

I strongly suspect that Davey's Jewel Stik is an abrasive and that works entirely different than an "old fashioned steel" (items 1 and 2 above). The abrasive "steels" are indeed very good for maintaining a fine, polished edge because they remove small amounts of material with a very fine grit.

This is a big subject and I am offering what I can and have learned. For example, I have gone over to a lot of scandi grind blades and I do not like a butchers steel on them at all. For those, a fine ceramic rod is much more suited...for me anyway. But the "old fashioned" steel has its place. I do leatherwork (sheaths mostly) and I touch up my utility knife on a hundred year old stag handled kitchen steel between almost every cut.
 
I only smooth steel my kitchen knives to prolong a rolled edge. I never steel my EDC. I use a loaded strop for finishing my EDC's.
 
Non-Abrasive steels only straighten out rounded edges, they do not remove any material from the blade edge. Thus, they do not “Sharpen”.
 
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