KME Precision Knife Sharpener System with 4 Gold Series Diamond Hones - Base Included

I have been looking for a sharpening solution for a variety of kitchen knives and settled on the KME Precision Knife Sharpener System after going down a rabbit hole of videos and reviews of various options. I was looking for something that: 1) Was Idiot Proof - So I didn't accidentally ruin a knife 2) Worked Well - So I got sharp blades on a variety of knife styles 3) Is Reusable Over Time - So it didn't wear out after two or three uses This system meets all those criteria. See below. 1) Idiot Proof: Read the instructions, then read them again. Use the marker to mark your edge. Take your time the first time around on your least favorite knife. When in doubt use the coarse stones longest the first time around (which it says in the instructions). Be patient. 2) Worked Well: This will result in a VERY sharp knife....like sharp enough to easily slice a sheet of paper. I have gotten good results on large chef knives, thin boning knives, and small pocket knives. Be careful and tell other people when they are going to use your knives that they are SHARP. 3) Reusable Over Time: The diamond stones can cut an edge into many blades without wearing out. I have already done many blades of varying hardness with no fatigue showing in the system. Here are some notes that helped in addition to just reading the instructions several times: 1) It's good to watch some videos of the system being used prior to diving in. They're easy to find online. 2) Internet search for your specific knife's sharpening angle to help you most easily replicate it. 3) Install a level or protractor app on your phone to check the angle because it can vary depending on the width of the blade. 4) Flip over the guide for the stabilizing rod if you need a shallower angle than 17 degrees. (I have a good chef's knife that is 14 degrees on each side, and this worked fantastically.) I am very happy with the purchase; so much so that I have already used it to sharpen my friends knives for them.

I have great admiration for those experts that can "freehand" to perfection. Freehand sharpening knives is a time-honored tradition. However, if (like me) you just can not consistently get the results you want by "feel", this is a great option. Diamond is the best choice for cutting tough material like AUS8 and harder. I chose this guided system with Diamond Plates because I have some experience with other types of "stones", and often find the need to re-profile. Some other sharpener makers do NOT even recommend heavy re-profiling with their device. THE PAST: I liked a triple-sided hone for some steel, especially the mundane kitchen utensils, but I could not correct (re-profile) the finished edges that were uneven/off-center ground. That system is very inexpensive, but the triple stones also seemed too soft for harder steels. I started considering diamond plates. However, I had scratched the coating off my Cryo II by accidentally freehand sharpening it too close to one of the coarser stones on the triple stone. Ugh. This happened in an instant. I started researching all guided sharpeners. I went with the KME gold diamond kit because of the steels used in the higher-end blades are hard to grind, and the sturdy design of the fixture. The fixture angle guesswork (left side/right side) and constant blade re-mounting I saw in other systems are non-issues with a KME. The rotating fixture has a secure, adjustable detent, or "stop" point. It does not wobble. It saves time and guesswork. Oh, man. A TRULY inspired design. Atta boy, KME. NOW: The KME sharpener arrived with some VERY detailed instruction that emphasize what needs to be kept in mind. Just "heed" the instructions. I learned that clamping your knife in the fixture securely, and not having to move (or remove) the knife from the rotatable fixture during the process (like other systems) is a big plus. Huge. If you are not a big reader, BladeForums has a cool pictorial-tutorial written by Moosez45. YouTube has plenty of info about this system, also. The edges shown are fabulous. You can do that. THE NITTY: In some cases, I start with the very aggressive 140 grit to "set" the profile angles that all the other stones work to refine. It doesn't take much work at all. If you desire, adjustments on the fixture allow you to significantly change the bevel angle of a knife with ease. Primary bevels of under 14 degrees (like serious kitchen knives) are "hackable", by flipping the angle guide over. A simple Sharpie line on the bevel you are working is a good guide, and a jewelers loupe is even more revealing. I use the 40x25mm with Led Lighting sold on Amazon for less than three dollars. Once you have experienced about 5 minutes of working this system, your muscles will know enough to get the job done quickly and near effortlessly.This sharpener is very impressive for speed, design and results. The tan-colored diamond "break-in slurry", seen during the first 2 cuts with the Diamond Plates is normal. Scary, but normal. The base is well worth the money, because it fits snugly into the handle/bushing of the fixture. I weighed the options and savings, but I am now sure I could not make a substitute. Saved-up gift cards softened the expense. I purchased an additional Chosera 5000 grit stone to take my edges much closer to a "surgical" glint at the end of the cutting process. The included 1500 grit plate requires just a bit more stropping to "get there" than I care to perform. MANY stones are available for this system. I even used the El Cheapo double-stacked 10000/3000 Sedeta stone, sold by FDS, in the tool holder. With slight adjustments for angle and clamping, even that worked! (5 STARS?) This sharpening device quickly produces excellent edges. Product reviews for other (more expensive) sharpeners are very mixed. The KME design does a good job of preventing damage to edges or finish. (Good for me). It has a very solid feel. It is not rickety plastic. It holds the knife in precise alignment during the entire process. This item is MADE in the U.S.A... a bonus point for that. KME offers custom-fit strops and "exotic" compounds. What I REALLY LIKE: The repeatable, astounding results. Impressive edges are easy and satisfying to attain. I will never again have to rely on "freehand" sharpening. It works great on tougher steels. I am constantly impressed with the results I get using this system.

I began my career sharpening knives at the age of 10....I've got about 40 years of knife sharpening experience to draw from. My professional opinion is that I suck at sharpening knives. That's not subjective...it's easily proven. I don't have Damascus blades handcrafted by some artisan with a cool beard. I have a house full of dull knives...most of which are actually really good quality and pretty pricey. I'm good with my hands, can fix just about anything...sharpening a blade is not witchcraft or voodoo...but for the life of me I just can't get a decent edge on a blade more than about 20% of the time. Long story short, I saw a shootout of knife sharpening systems on YouTube (Project Farm...highly recommend). This was not the "best value" system; I think that was the Lansky or whatever it's called. This was however one of the better systems based on results and construction. I was drawn to the fact that it looked to be better materials and the diamond stones would likely hold up longer than those pink, white and blue stones. Plus parts are readily available directly from the manufacturer. Stones (even diamond ones) are wear items. It arrived so I went straight back to YouTube to watch some starter and tips videos which were great. I set off on my first knife and about 20 minutes later I was an expert knife sharpener. Seriously. It's brain dead simple....I even tried to make it more complicated by using an angle finder and stuff.....it's idiot proof if you spend a few minutes to understand how it works and how to set it up. I've whipped about 5 knives so far and they are all hair shaving sharp (I should post a picture of my poor arm that looks like I have mange or something). I can still count to ten without using my toes yet. The stones look like they are going to hold up for a while. The only thing that I could possibly nitpick is that the base does not appear to fit into the case. I can probably pull some foam out and make it fit. The selection of grits is pretty much perfect to shape/repair and then get the scratches out on the way to refining it. Now you can get a really sharp edge with just what is in the kit, but a strop really puts the finishing touches on it. I got one of those cheapy ones from Amazon with green and white polish. Seems to work well. This is one of those tools that you buy that you expect to be around for a long time and more importantly it actually does what it's supposed to do. How many things have you bought where it kinda sorta does it about half the time? This ain't one of those things. It works, its repeatable, and more importantly it makes all of the things that I sharpen with it better. Highly recommend this product.

Does what it was made to do very well, but feels overpriced for what you get and has some annoying features. The system is so easy a kid could figure it out. If not, YouTube has your back. Their customer service team is also amazing. I can't complain about the results in terms of knife sharpness. Razor sharp edges every time. Period. Fit and finish of this product is a bit "meh" for $200. A lot of the parts that you have to reassemble for each use are held together via tiny screws / bolts. These tiny screws / bolts are very annoying to tighten by hand. They're also equally annoying to tighten with a tool, because suddenly you need a tool to put together the product. You also can't loctite these items, unless you dont want to be able to store the product in the case it came in, because it doesnt fit in that case unless it's fully disassembled. So, either loctite everything for stability and be unable to store the product properly, or be able to store the product properly but have to reassemble and disassemble it every time you use it, with screws / bolts that often come loose during use because they're only barely adequately hand-tightened. It's great for sharpening knives - I can't stress that enough - but for $200 the fit and finish and minor annoyances while using the product just make you feel like you paid way too much. I might complain less at $150.

This has become my favorite knife sharpener. I own a wicked edge and an Edge pro sharpener and for me this is the easiest to set up. I can easily repeat angles with this sharpener unlike the edge pro sharpener which I found the learning curve with to be too long for me to be happy with the results. The wicked edge sharpener is also fairly easy to duplicate the angles on but it is significantly large and the costs a lot more to purchase initially along with accessories being quite expensive. The wicked edge with dual stones may cut a blade a little faster if you are reprofiling a knife but I honestly could not tell much difference. The diamond stones that come with this kit are excellent, as good as any of the others diamond stones that I have used with the other two sharpeners. I have reprofiled and sharpener at least 20 knives with these stones and they still cut s90v and ZDP-189 with great speed. The 1500 grit stone produces an acceptable edge with a good diamond coarseness or bite to it but it is not something I would find acceptable for a kitchen knife or shears. I much prefer a more polished edge for these applications and strop my edges after using the 1500 grit stone. For my EDC pocket knives the 1500 grit stone provides a fine edge that cuts well. I am obviously looking for a more refined edge on my knives and have purchased additional stones which I have found to be very cost effective compared to the wicked edge stones and on par with stones for the edge pro. The options of extra stones is a bit limited compared to the other sharpeners but you can still produce an edge as sharp with the available stones as the other sharpeners are capable of. For my needs this sharpener is the best value and easiest to use of the three sharpeners I have mentioned. I highly recommend you consider this sharpener if you are in the market for a manual sharpening system instead of using bench stones. I think you will be very satisfied with this easy to use system once you spend some time on youtube watching all of the excellent educational videos out there.

Short review. I have been looking for a great sharpener for a good while. My main knife is a Benchmade 581 Barrage with the M390 steel blade -- very hard, keeps an edge a long time, and reportedly difficult to sharpen due the hardness of the blade steel. I sharpen it to a very fine edge -- 35 degrees total, 17.5 each side. I am NOT an expert sharpener, so using a stone by itself is out of the question. I was previously using the Lansky system, which is good but subject a lot of small variations in the angle, and the diamond sharpening stones from lansky (which you need for the m390 steel) are pretty crude. The KME sharpening system is awesome in every respect. the holding clamp is firm and precise, but does not scratch the blade, the guiding rod and angle adjustment is precise, and the diamond stones that come with this set up are beautiful. I also ordered a black arkansas stone and a leather stropping stone direct from KME to do the finishing runs on the blade. The knife is so sharp i have stop and pay attention when i open or close my Benchmade, because even a slight brush agaiinst the blade can result in a cut. 10 stars. Especially for this set up with the diamond stones, which is not available from KME. Final note, the 581 barrage, a bit expensive, like this sharpening system, is also worth every penny. the very best assisted opening knife money can buy. By the way, buy a magnetic digital angle finder to use with this, and glue a small flat piece of steel (like a flat bracket from Home Depot) to the top of the stone holding bracket of the system, so the magnet can hold on the bracket. There are good videos on youtube that go through how to use the system with a digital angle unit.

I'm very impressed with this KME system. It's rock solid and very easy to use. It sharpens my knives better than any other angle system I've had before. I think it does a better job than I can do manually on a flat stone and significantly quicker too. It's a bit pricey but the results are worth it. I sharpened my everyday carry knife weeks ago and it's still razor sharp so it clearly creates a good apex for a good edge retention. I'm very glad I decided to get this set.

I just received this a couple days ago, and I'm so impressed with it. Finally, those of us who are worthless when it comes freehand sharpening have a solution! This is exactly what I wanted, it's pretty much idiot proof. I used it to re profile my mini grip tanto to a 40 degree bevel, and it worked like a charm. It actually took quite some time with the 140 grit diamond stone to get it there, so I did get the 40 grit "The Beast" and the 100 grit diamond on order for future use. The 140 grit is just fine to re profile a thinner blade, but for any heavy duty material removal I'd say go ahead and order the rougher grits with the system. I bought my system from amazon, but I went direct to kme for the additional stones. Pros: Made in the USA Durable construction using quality materials Good fit and finish Easy to use Includes everything you need to take a dull edge to razor sharp Diamond stones use water not oil Tons of different options including different grits of diamond stone, chosera water stones, Arkansas stones, strops, emulsions, different jaws for pen blades, etc Well worth the price if you value sharp cutting tools Cons: Not for use in the field Requires assembly each use if stored in the included case. Wish they included the 100 grit stone with the kit, I think the extra stone will be a life saver when sharpening thicker blades. Price may be too steep for some people

Increíble sistema, muy fácil de usar y con resultados maravillosos, muy versátil tanto para, cuchilos de cocina y navajas de filo liso.

For many years I have tried to use a wet stone with varying degrees of success. I finally thought I needed more assistance in sharpening my knives. After a lot of online research and reviews I decided on the KME knife sharpener. I watched a few videos, put the the knife sharpener together when it arrived and started sharpening a few knives. From the very first knife achieved sharpness I have not achieved with any other method. It is simple but very effective. My next consideration will be to buy a kangaroo strop and go for a mirror finish. Although I don’t really think this is needed for the use I put my knives to in the kitchen as they cut everything beautifully already just with using four diamonds that came with a KME system. I am very happy with this knife sharpener.

Price a bit expensive but everything is perfect! High quality, easy to use and even the aesthetics are very beautiful. But be careful your knives will be dangerously sharp! Only bad point , need more stone to make polish mirror job and stones or very expensive and hard to find .

Perfect for sharpening pocket blades

The price is a pretty high for what it is but I really like it. Sharpens my knives nicely.