Not trying to be argumentative, but I dont think stropping is ridiculous advice although I used to think it was when I never had used it as a way to kep a good edge. I've used (at various times during the last 15 or 0 years, sandstone, carbide wheels, cloth wheels and compound, waterstoners, norton stones, files, diamond card's, wa****a's, slate, emory & glass, prety much anything. But I thought well hundreds of woodcarver's, and other people who use sharp woodworking tools all the time cant be wrong when they strop there tools as a matter of routine, so I took there advice against my better judgement and found it
does make a difference as its less fuss, less noise, cheaper and you maintain a polished scalpel edge that burnishes the wood when it cut's, which suits me fine.
When you sharpen a blade with a butcher steel will it produce a wood-burnishing quality edge, that does not leave scratches on the fibre surface and cannot be improved but actually
spoiled by sanding? That was the edge quality I always wanted, stropping proved to be the method that delivered best result's. I guess when your jointing carcasses you dont need burnished meat
Bernie, why not show some photos or a tutorial to show how a steel
should be used, its always been a mystery to me how that work's.
Cheers Jonathan