RD,
It’s the maintenance that’s the killer in the soft steel knives. For occasional users like home cooks, hard steel knives hold their edges for a long long time.
By making loaded stropping a relaxing “break” activity while working with my computer, I’ve avoided sharpening with whetstones–or anything else. Even my ceramic honing is minimal. The stropping has not only maintained, but actually refined, my edges.
My two Wusthofs, on the other hand, have been sharpened with pull-throughs, and honed with a steel, before stropping with several different loadings. My Wusthof precision knife is involved in near constant maintenance.
On the job, I may hone my Wusthof Classic Ikon at any time. I located it next to a honing steel in the kitchen.
and
my Wusthof has steel that is several Rockwell grades harder than the Mercers you use.
I rely on my Wusthof for cutting bones–but on a very limited basis. The only bones I’ll attempt to cut are chicken bones: I leave heavier bones to the butcher.
