Probably just means you need to sharpen it more often. As I understand it, a steel doesn't sharpen the knife, but aligns the edge - in normal use, the edge fol

Probably just means you need to sharpen it more often. As I understand it, a steel doesn't sharpen the knife, but aligns the edge - in normal use, the edge folds over; steeling makes it straight again, and should be done before using the knife. It takes a _lot_ of effort with a steel to put an edge on a knife where it's worn away.