My wife won't let me sharpen the kitchen knives on the Tormek as she is worried about having super sharp blades, I therefore use a steel exclusively to keep those knives sharp and it does work, even on knives which we have had for many years. While I'm sure that it is correct that the steel mainly realigns the edge, common sense tells me that least some steel is removed at the same time to refresh the edge. My steel also has the teeth running lengthwise.