Rolling knife sharpener - are they any good?

Tyla

Well-Known Member
I was supposed to get one of these for Christmas bit mother in law decided to use her initiative and buy me something I didn't want instead lol.

I'd been waiting on today to try one and now I've not got one I'm tempted just to buy one myself.

Are they worth it? Any real user reviews? I've a mate who swears by them but all opinions welcomed
 
I've got one. It's useful for quickly maintaining a 15/20 degree edge on general purpose kitchen knives. I wouldn't use it on anything else though. And I suspect the abrasive surface doesn't last very long.
 
The Peter Eaton knife I bought came wish express instructions not to use a pull through style sharpener. People more knowledgeable than me will be able to advise further.
 
Rolling knife sharpener?.......... What do they look like?
If Peter advised against using one, then I wouldn't, especially on one of his knives.
Just found a vid on them, NAH, not for me.
 
The horl are good quality and you can upgrade the stones to different grits etc. Good enough to get an acceptable on kitchen knives and pretty fool proof.
Look up Outdoors55 channel in YouTube for a demo and his opinion.
 
Rolling sharpeners are not the same as pull-through sharpeners.

I bought a rolling sharpener from a member here to give it a try, and it does a pretty good job. The magnetic block is designed to hold the blade at the right angle whilst the diamond discs on the roller are moved along the edge to do the actual sharpening, but whilst this is fine for knives with blades the size of Moras and small kitchen knives, I find it doesn’t work particularly well for those at the extremes, such as long-bladed kitchen knives and small pocket knives. With the former the roller has a tendency to shift the blade through leverage when at either end, whilst the latter are too small to be held without the diamond discs hitting the magnetic block itself.

It’s quite a handy device to keep in the kitchen for doing some occasional honing, but personally I prefer the Wicked Edge for more serious sharpening sessions.
 
The Peter Eaton knife I bought came wish express instructions not to use a pull through style sharpener. People more knowledgeable than me will be able to advise further.
I have researched rolling sharpeners further, I had mistakenly thought that the OP was referring to the type that has two rotating stones or foxed steels that you “pull through” so my comment is not valid.
 
Outdoor55 is my go to guy for all matters sharpening; I have stones recommended by him which are great, and not so great ones which I’d bought before watching his programmes.
I can absolutely endorse his recommendation of the Sharpal coarse325/ extra fine1250 grit combination stone. The DMT duo ain’t so good IMLE

image.webp

Though I always use a sharp knife, I found the round rolling sharpening stones to be ill-conceived, a longstanding guest had them but truth be told his knives were never properly sharp.



 
Outdoor55 is my go to guy for all matters sharpening; I have stones recommended by him which are great, and not so great ones which I’d bought before watching his programmes.
I can absolutely endorse his recommendation of the Sharpal coarse325/ extra fine1250 grit combination stone. The DMT duo ain’t so good IMLE

View attachment 398851

Though I always use a sharp knife, I found the round rolling sharpening stones to be ill-conceived, a longstanding guest had them but truth be told his knives were never properly sharp.





You / he have talked me into it. Just bought the 8" sharpal. I just need to get good at using it now. Any further tips?
 
You / he have talked me into it. Just bought the 8" sharpal. I just need to get good at using it now. Any further tips?
Yes.
1) Keep your fingers and thumbs away from the strop edge when finishing off on any strop ( I’d leave the strop stick firmly on the bench or in any stone clamp/vice, his video clip at #9 demonstrating this with an all but finished ie sharp knife with the strop held in his hand is a bit scary).

2) Don’t be like Tim!
Pay attention to what you’re doing and whether sharpening or using the knife, let the knife do the work; gently does it, a sharp knife will do the work so you don’t have to push too hard - that’s usually where the ‘fun’ starts. In most cases, if you’re having to exert effort yourself, then your knife may need re-sharpening.

3) It’s possible to buy very fine diamond grit paste in a syringe for stropping, which may or may not work better than Chromium oxide paste, but at least you’ll have the harder of the two to help you with any stropping, but again - be gentle with the actual knife pressure. I’ve often seen videos of guys thrashing the knife against a steel, when all the pressure that is required can be exerted merely by holding the knife to be aligned between one finger and thumb. Same goes for sharpening on a diamond stone, imho.

You’ll not be disappointed with the Sharpal ‘stone’ 👍🏻
 
@Tyla
good stone the sharpal, buy the bigger 3x8 one.
dont push too hard and let the stone do the work.
maintain your angle above all.

get used to feeling the burr and getting it removed = sharp knife....simples.

i would forget the strop until you have the sharpening process sorted, its only needed for show really !

real time sharpening
 
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His Sharpal stone review below; he also has done a review on the rolling sharpener, which may or may not be of interest to look up.

 
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