A steel doesn’t sharpen a knife it just aligns the edge so when i sharpen I use a lansky type kit. When I do sharpen my Japanese vege knife (it is a chisel type blade) the one side is flat and the other is sharpened to a 17 degree angle. I can hold that knife with 2 fingertips and it will slice a ripe tomato with only the weight of the blade. I dont sharpen all that often, it might be several months. I do think that its what you get used too, I have known many pro chefs once they seen a really sharp knife never go back.
I worked summers in restaurants and the chefs knives there were never very sharp. A chef is not taught anything about knives, they concentrate on the food end. Oh, btw, never ever use a powered wheel to “grind” a blade, it is very easy to heat the blade enough to change the temper and then you are snookered.
very good analogy. Some water stones can be as high as 8000 grit. Since the sandpaper you probably have in the garage is like to be 120 you can see this is pretty fine. They actually feel very very smooth. Even using this stone though the edge, under magnification, is as as you say quite jagged. Since a steel doesnt sharpen but rather aligns, eventually you need to sharpen the knife. The longer you leave it the more work you have to get the proper bevel again. A hunting knife might be 20 or 22 degrees while a straight razor would be more like 12 degrees.