To me the technique of blade steeling is all a matter of preference. Every butcher and or chef needs to make there own mistakes in order to master this very essential skill, but i will try and explain the technique i use that works best for me. If you search the internet on HOW TO USE A STEEL you always get these videos on some guy holding the steel vertical on a table top steeling at the same angle that he thinks the knife edge is honed at. When boning beef this isn’t very cost effective as it is very time consuming and in the meat business time is money. If you for example hone your knife at 21 degrees and steel at exactly that same angle in my experience the knife will dull very quickly immaterial of how well you polished the edge to. I have always steeled higher than that of the honed edge thus creating a micro bevel making the knife both sharp and strong enough to withstand a hard days graft. If you hold the steel nice and firmly in your left hand ( taking into account your right handed ) your hand should be roughly level with your bellybutton with the steel pointing up in the air. Set your desired angle then make 2 or 3 alternating passes on each side of the steel with light pressure. keep raising the angle until you hit that perfect angle that your knife cuts through the beef like butter. The 3 steels that i use are the dick hygienic (rough) dick 2000(medium) dick polish. This works well for me and i hope this helps.
