WHY THE SHARPENING STEEL?
Align your blades
Also known as a honing rod—this is not the same as a knife sharpener, but it is essential to keeping your knife blade sharp and cutting well.
Unlike sharpening, honing doesn't remove any metal fibres. Instead, the friction caused by running your blade along the surface of a honing steel helps straighten and align metal fibres on the knife's edge that get bent during the cutting process.