Sharpening Knives

All the literature on the web and from knife manufacturers say to sharpen knives by drawing the knife INTO the sharpening steel. But I can never get a scary sharp blade that way. In woodworking, I learned to draw the blade away from the steel to create a drawn new edge. When I tried that on my kitchen knives, drawing the blade away from the sharpening steel, the knives become as sharp as new.