We love our KME! You can flip the stone carrier rod guide upside down to go below 17° easily. I did not think there was any kits available that were not the four diamond stone configuration. Certainly, with the knives you mention you do not need diamond stones. My oldest son is able to get his knives hair popping sharp with the KME, something that was unattainable for him with the spyderco sharp maker because of a lack of the necessary fine motor skills. I also like the fact that both hands have a place for training. I did buy a larger stone carrier handle, a ~ 2 inch plastic ball from the hardware store that screwed right on for a better purchase. It is also small enough to carry in a small pistol rug for field use. And the owner of the company, Ron, is a great communicator, listening politely and answering clearly questions he has probably heard 10,000 times.
The KME 4 diamond stone kit is also an excellent value compared to other made in America guided sharpening systems. We sharpen all the new fancy steel we are using: CRKT and Kershaw AUS8, Zero tolerance 154CM, benchmade D2 (excellent) and their m390, incredible stuff. The smallest blades we have sharpened has been Leatherman, scout knives, and a Victorinox officer. Although the officer has a teeny one-inch blade that will require me to purchase Ron's small blade clamp. As a pup,
I was a finish butcher and used three sided stones and steels on a full set of Cases, so I was stunned with the genius of the Sharp maker at keeping knives extremely sharp (at least for dad), but the KME delivers an INCREDIBLY consistent bevel and OMG sharpness hilt to tip. I looked a long time for a used KME, which gave me more time to save up, but never found one, so I bought it direct from Ron.
Don't tell any of the experts, but we don't bother with the sharp maker or KME for the kitchen garbage knives. For those we break out our completely quick n capable, relatively speaking, Presto 08810 which cost 30 bucks because it was open box.
