W. Rose round knife - sharpened by machine.

[Wepster]

just a small observation, a steel is used to straighten an edge. They tend to be kitchen tools, you get a chefs knife very sharp, the cutting board (or cutting along bone, hitting bone can chip a knife) can roll the fine edge over. The steel will straighten that edge back in line with the rest of the blade. Stropping can also straighten an edge, but generally you are removing metal, tiny, tiny bits, which is why it is used on a sharp knife before it gets dull. It will polish an edge, allowing the tool to slide through with less friction/drag.

 

[SUP]

@dikman, @bruce johnson, @Wepster Thank you for all the information. 

From my experience last evening, I must say a small old, unbranded knife that was thrown in with some other things is my sharpest. it is easiest to sharpen and keeps sharp, is light and very comfortable to hold! Can't be too hard, as it is easy to sharpen, more like an old C S Osbourne.  I plan to follow the same care as for the old, branded ones.

 

 

 

[dikman]

It's pretty easy to make a carbon steel blade hard, just quench it and don't temper it. In general, very hard blades are not practical as while they will hold an edge for a long time the difficulty in putting that edge back once it's blunt can be a problem for many people. One reason butcher's liked Victorinox butcher knives, plain carbon steel that was easy for them to keep sharp. Same with chefs.

It would be an interesting experiment to try tempering one of those W Rose knives, or re-heat, quench and temper to see what effect it has. Not going to happen, of course, as anyone who has one is unlikely to want to try it.