I'm no expert but once spent ~30 mins researching how to properly sharpen knives. Everything I watched said you needed a sharpening stone, and that a 'knife sharpening steel' is basically useless.
During a long stay in a serviced apartment with only 1 (very blunt) chef's knife, I tried the sharpening steel and it took the knife from completely blunt to razor sharp in 1 minute flat.
So looking back, I suspect those videos were talking down sharpening steels because they're abundant and cheap, and those same videos were probably trying to peddle expensive sharpening stones..
Knife edge getting dull time lapse [video] · HackerTrans
During a long stay in a serviced apartment with only 1 (very blunt) chef's knife, I tried the sharpening steel and it took the knife from completely blunt to razor sharp in 1 minute flat.
So looking back, I suspect those videos were talking down sharpening steels because they're abundant and cheap, and those same videos were probably trying to peddle expensive sharpening stones..