its been my experience (working as a chef for several years when i left school) that using a steel isnt the same as stropping, it much more akin to using a pasted strop to hone the edge back. where as stropping just re alingns the edge.
the way a kitchen knife is used is completly diffrent to the way a razor is used, a knife is used to push through, where as a razor is "scraped along"
The force is always on the edge being pushed down into the chopping block. this will dull the edge much quicker.
the structure of kitchen knives differ aswell.
trying to hack through a chicken carcas with a blade as thin as a razor will damage the edge, so kitchen knives are thicker.
Most good chefs will have a selection of steels aswell as a hone stone, and use the correct steel according to the knife and how much repair work it needs doing, so while one of the much smoother fine steels would be used after light jobs such as shredding salad or such like.
a heavier steel would be used after jobs such as jointing meet, or even finly chopping herbs as the teqnique used for this is quite hard on the edge.
Or atleast that was the way i was taught and it has been a method that worked when i was a chef, and also in the construction industry, using the right method to sharpen the tools, depending on what the tool has been or is to be used for.