Sharpening Steels

Hi all. I recently bought an old rawhide fleshing machine, which I sanded and painted, and got the blades reground. I have allways used the mini flesher, and figured it was time to graduate to the round knife.
I ordered a sharpening steel, from McKenzie, which I thought was going to be two, but was one. It is blunt on the end, and is long and skinny like 1/16 dia. or smaller. I know I need two, but if I order another, should I sharpen one end of one, to a point, and leave the other blunt?
Which size steels do the best job? I think their tunsten steel, and can I just get a piece from a welder? What size?
Thanks

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steels

I made my own, a short piece of 3/8" dowel is the handle and hardened steel wire for the sharpening.
I bought a piece of hardened wire at the NAPA store (wire from a manual choke cable) and drilled the end of the dowel piece the same size as the wire, pressed it in and voila!
I bought a 3 foot piece of wire 5 years ago, still using the original 2" cut off piece in the handle; it doesn't wear out!
I only use one steel, lift the lip of the blade slightly first and then debur it from the backside for a couple seconds; if you see any sparks thyen you're putting too much pressure to the blade.

But your really only need one

Dakota recommended two and I used two for years till I got my Rawhide. I only use the one to tune them. First, lift the edge up and then flatten it out from the top. Two tools might take one application, but they're only doing it in tandem versus one at a time anyway. I used to buy my tools from Rawhide, but really, paying that much for a dowel with a piece of tool steel is a little ridiculous. You can use a file tang, a concrete nail, or any tempered steel rod to make your own.

What about a point

Thanks guys. Do I need a point on the end? What dia. wire or rod is the right size?

Thanks

Jay, you are correct

You do need a point so that you can get up under the cusp of the blade and life it. Diameter is unimportant really. Van Dykes sells them with about 3/32 diameter, but I've bought them from Rawhide that were 1/8 inch. As I said, a concret nail works quite well. Here's what you do. Get a concrete nail and a pair of vise grips. With a butane torch, heat the nail red hot and then let it set aside until it cools. This is called "annealing" the metal. Once cool, grind off the flat end of the nail and sharpen the squared point of the nail. Pour a medicine cup full of machine oil, motor oil, or even WD-40. Heat the nail red hot again and then squelch it by submerging it in the cup of oil. This "tempers" the metal and restores the hardness to the nail. Now take a dowel and drill a slightly smaller hole down the dowel. With your Visegrips holding the shank, drive the butt end of the concrete nail down into the dowel. Cheap sharpening steel and you did it all by yourself.

Thanks George

Thanks for the great info. I thought that concrete nails were spiral. All the one's I've used are. Which concrete nails are straight? Would tungsten steel rods for tig welding work?

Thanks again.