If you’re ‘sharpening challenged’ then it’s definitely the KME. The diamond steels work fine, but work with light pressure. With heavy pressure the imbeded diamond chips come loose on most of the steels. Among diamond sharpeners I like the Jewel Stik best; the diamonds don’t seem to come loose and the ‘fine’ side is really an ultra-fine. The smaller (5″) three-sided Jewel Stik can also be adapted to use with the KME system by tapping out the screw hole in the end of the steel.

Ed