...This guy touched up his Mora every ten minutes or so with a kitchen steel and used that razor sharp edge every day. He wanted 'lower end steels' because of the uses and conditions he worked in. Anyone bragging about super steels around this guy would have been thought of as not very bright.
Ok, fine let's examine the the facts then. Since the story doesn't specify what kind of steel was, I'm assuming it was simple grooved steel, i.e. not abrasive. All it does, realigns deformed edge.
Given that, you can restore sharp edge very few times, after that metal fatigue settles in and the deformed sections break off. Ergo, you end up with a dull knife that is in the need or serious sharpening. Unless he was carrying a sharpener on him(besides the steeling rod that is) then he'd have to run home leaving the seal in the wild, or continue working with a practically useless knife.
Plus, because it was relatively soft steel the edge had to be thicker(compared to hypothetical super steel). At that rate our Inuite friend would've needed new knife every year or so. I'd say not very practical for a budget minded person.
If the stick was abrasive material, then keeping the knife sharp would've been easier, but the wear of the steel would be even greater. But ok, for simplicity assume it's the same knife per year...
So, what we have is waste of time(touchup every 10 minutes), waste of energy(since thick edge requires more effort), which btw out there in the cold, harsh environment is no insignificant matter, increased wear on the knife edge and eventually decreased lifespan of the knife.
So, in the end, I'd say he was at a loss on all accounts, except that "ease of sharpening", and even there, I can argue that touchups and minor edge restorations are easier and far less frequent on those super hard super steels than on the soft, low wear resistance alloys. The only time when super steel sharpening difficulty matters is when significant amount metal needs to be removed, which doesn't happen as often as with low grade steels.
I can not imagine for a person for whom knife is such an important toom, maintaining it once in a while even for 2-3 hours is such a big deal, considering all the "savings" he'd get.
Like Ron said, if you'd given him your knife to clean few seals w/o need ot touchups, may be he'd think differently
Otherwise, his assessment was based on ignorance and incomplete info. Hardly a good argument.
I like thin edges and prefer ones that hold more than an hour. Crazy, surreal stuff....
