That phrase "As iron sharpens iron" was written approximately 3000 years ago. A pastor that was counseling me during a rough patch used it frequently, from the book of Proverbs attributed to King Solomon, and I have since then been a little curios about it. Here is the whole verse; Proverbs 27:17 New King James Version (NKJV) 17 As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. from BibleGateway.com This leads to curiosity about their sharpening techniques then and also now, especially as pertains to the sharpening steel. At the auction for us kids I bought my dad's sharpening steel which brings back many memories. It is labeled R Diek, made in Germany. A search on R Diek brings up nothing of value. What I am really kind of wondering about is the value of sharpening iron on iron. In the proverb I suppose "iron" would refer to all sorts of steel. My dad's steel seems to have longitudinal serrations in the steel, visible lines. I assume this steel would have to be harder than the knife; it has lasted my dad's lifetime and is seemingly untouched on the steel; the handle got soaked for a long period of time sometime and the finish is ruined on that side but otherwise the steel looks about like new. Kind of wondering what the mechanics are of using the steel on a knife. This is my first youtube video, I do not have editing capabilities yet so take it easy.