Best Rolling sharpener?⬇ Let me know your thoughts on these below! amzn.to/490wUr9 🛑UDATE BELOW HORL RESPONDED🛑 This is an amazon affiliated link I earn from qualifying purchases UPDATE: Horl Responded⬇ Dear Alex, Thank you for your message. We are already aware of the offer and are currently checking the legal situation. This is definitely not a subsidiary of ours and we have no other connection with this offer. Since our patent attorneys have not yet completed their examination of the property rights, I ask for your understanding that we cannot provide any more detailed information at this time. However, we thank you very much for the information. Kind regards from the black forest Personal disclosure because other TH-camrs dont. As an affiliate I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases made through product links at no additional cost to you. Everything in this video was purchased with my own money. I am not sponsored by anyone at the time this video was filmed. I was not sent anything for free. I am free to link to anything I want. Thanks for watching!
Hey buddy ... which strop do you use..? I've watched your videos on how to make one ... but is there one you'd recommend..? Or better: That you sell ... I went to knife point ... but wix says it's gone. How do you know when a leather strop is not good..? I have a cheap one off amazon which I think might suck...and before I waste diamond emulsion on it figured I'd ask. Last ... there are those 1-3 micron bulk diamond powder off eBay (cheap) monocrystal ... I was thinking of getting that and then some gunny juice in maybe 1 micron? I ordered the Shapton Pro (per your suggestion) in 1000 2000 5000 ... I assume the highest 'grit' I use dictates which micron size I start with ..? Is that right..? Thanks!
if you want to test out the Horl version which is the superior one, i can send it to you, imho the work sharp one would come in second place for quality, the Tumbler version kinda sucks compared, however the Work sharp one has a way more resonable price compared to the Horl even though the HOrl is better, also i said in my videos that its only good for Chef knives atleast for the most part in my experience, great video as always
In the end, it's a fixed angle system, even with a coarser diamond side. This is no match to guided systems with a variable angle. Why spend so much money on a crutch? I have the KME and a couple of Korumaku's and Fällkniven DC4 and CC4. Currently only using the stones free-hand. These roller systems are marginally better than those pull-through systems from China.
Did you know FULL DISCLOSURE like you post is actually required by US federal law if you have affiliate links or a sponsored message in your video? Those TH-camrs who don't can actually lose more than their channel if the Feds chose to prosecute.
Funny thing is that I bought a Horl 2 sharpener a few years ago, and when these seemingly official Tumbler sharpeners came on the market, I started having doubts about whether I had actually bought a copy rather than the original design. Glad to hear that my initial purchase was from the original designers of the product, and got a finer quality sharpener to boot!
@@thomasanonymous998I have used the Horl 2 Pro for 3-4 years and it works great…but…if you do not sharpen knifes very often, the basic version 2 is also fine (the difference between the two is that the pro uses a 3:1 ratio gear so the discs rotates 3 times as fast). To me it was money well spend and I‘m not going back to using sharpening stones anytime soon…
@@eduardoarce879 So you don't think copyright matters, honoring and letting those profit off of something they came up with opposed to throwing your money at someone who is just lazily ripping off ideas and while doing so, doing a very bad job at it but still asking for a premium price? You get a better v-sharpener for 5$ than what this thing is capable of.
@@AvidEricFirst of all. The patent for the roller sharpener and the roller rectifier is from 1992, that means there is no patent anymore, no copyrights were broken. Second, that is how inovation works, taking an existing product and trying to improve it, which in this case might no be but any other should be able to. Lastly, if you think a v-sharpener could do better, probably you dont know much about sharpening.
I'm gonna be honest, you sharpening a butter knife on a brick is what convinced me that learning to properly sharpen a knife is worth more than any fancy tool out there.
It can the truck is proper technique and to use a leather strap after. The leather strap will fine the edge and it's very easy to use. When sharpening blades there's more than just the block you should do if you want it very sharp. These tumblers remove more material eventually damaging the blade as it's just a sander.
Wot you need is a better brick. Git you a paver, not one of the bricks with three or four holes through it. Then soak it in a bucket of water overnight so it will be a wet stone. Ann U. Welcome
Was very interesting to watch your video! I actually grew up with Timo Horl, we were neighbors. Can confirm he and Ottmar (his father) are not in any kind connected with the Tumbler guy 😉 Initially, his father was already working on this rolling sharpener when we were still kids - but it actually was Timo picking up on the project much later again and bringing it to the market in the end as you can now buy it.
Ich habe meinen Horl Rollschleifer vor ca. 6 Jahren direkt von ihm in Fulda auf einer Grill-Messe gekauft. Gut zu wissen, das die Geschichte stimmt 😅 Genau das gleiche hat er damals auch erzählt.
@@kasauerkrautimgulasch ja, funktioniert immer noch und ist für eine normale Schärfe ausreichend. Wegen dem vorgegebenen Winkel funktionieren nur nicht alle Messer, daher bin ich später auf diese Diamantplatten umgestiegen. Damit hatte ich bessere Ergebnisse. Aber für jemanden der darauf keine Lust hat ist der Rollschleifer ganz gut.
At 73, I must really be 'old school', as a gift 50 years ago, I received a 4 oiled-whetstone set. A Washita, soft, hard & black hard Arkansas stones. Still use em, still swear by em!
My grandpa gave me a his old Grizzly bench grinder for sharpening my mower blades etc. It does kitchen knives in one pass as well, but I go through hell of a lot of kitchen/butcher knives lol. I'm going for a whetstone set now, as experience like your counts for quite a bit imo.
@@Peanutdenver I promise when you get used to using them, you will have razor sharp knives that will last you for years... Make sure you use 'Honing Oil' it the best for knife sharpening.
I own the Horl and have purchased two of their finer grit disks to use with it and it's phenomenal however it (and many of the knock-offs) could be improved. If you have a knife with a wide blade it's necessary to place the roller on top of something of the correct thickness in order to sharpen the wider blade. This problem would be addressed by making a simple change to the magnetic blade holder. If you flip it over and raise it up by, say, an inch (you can glue a block to it) you can now attach a blade of any width, with the sharp edge down and slightly above the rolling surface. Another advantage of this flipped position is that it's safer - the sharp edge is down and not up - and you won't cut yourself if your hand slips off the roller.
it's the same hype as with stanley cup, on which idiots line up in queue. Sharpeners have existed since the dawn of time, and now you're just trying to reinvent the wheel.
@@iammichaeldavis Haha right? I was thinking that not all 'knock off' products are just cheap imitations, some actually iterate and make significant improvements on the original. Usually it's easy to tell the difference tho.
i agree with you. i just thought about raising the roller, but hadn't gotten to inverting the blade although i cringed at the sharp edge being pointed up.
I’m a blacksmith (not a blade smith, but I do make knives, axes, and swords) and I just found your channel. I am going to look at your other videos because I have sharpened blades on bricks before but have never seen anyone else do it! Instant fan.
@@xmachine7003 Murray Carter is THE OG. Amazing more pple don't know about that guy. What a wealth of knowledge. 90% of my hand sharpening technique is based on his early sharpening video content that was available on VHS and DVD back in the late 90s/early 2000s. If anyone knows anything about sharpening, it's a legitimate bladesmith who trained in Japan for over 10yrs and has teacher lineage going back hundreds of years...
@@OUTDOORS55 Since it's pretty much not usable at this point. How about taking Arkansas Stones of the right size and put them on interchangeable plates, so you can change it out to different Grits.
I went through that phase with the cheap diamond stones for my edge pro. They worked great for one or two knives but then there were no diamonds left and they did nothing. I wanted them to keep sharpening but had to throw them away. I’m back to the original stones from edge pro.
I own the Horl2 (with replacable discs) and was a Meat Cutter for nearly 16yrs. I got the sharpner bout 7yrs into my job and replaced the disc on the sharpner side 1 time. Same for the ceramic side. I absolutely loved it. I own Victorinox knives so when takin care of i dont need to sharpen often but the speed at wich u can get a nice edge and even edge was a godsend. A bit of a pain on the scimitar knives but still with use u got ways to do it. I love that sharpner n still have it to this day. ❤
Is it really journalism? Even though he says Im not sponsored if you pay attention there is an amazon affiliate link where he literally says he gets paid for them. I enjoyed most of the video but its clearly some backhanded advertisement. Now I know not to buy one at least
the stuff he actually uses and recommends have links as opposed to all the junk he tests....and he traces down the source and history for multiple products so yes, i would consider that investigative journalism...Also, I really don't see how the 2 are related in the first place lol @@jollygreen1862
@@jollygreen1862It's not just that they link to shit for affiliate links and pretend they aren't sponsored when affiliate links are literally a type of sponsorship that just hasn't been properly regulated. it's als that for investigative journalism... It's kinda missing the most basic investigation that isn't just "reviewing a product". Like looking into patents, which they didn't even care to do, is really easy. Like the bar is so low, they would've just had to google "Horl patent". Or literally asking any German. We could've told them that the knock-off dude doesn't sound German at all but instead sounds like they are a murrican trying really hard to imitate a German accent.
Other than the comments about German patents not applying in the US. Whilst true, companies will frequently take patents out in other significant markets. Whether Horl have or haven't done this want checked. Fair enough, but it came across as "I'm going to make an assumption and not even think to check its validity."
First time viewer of your channel. Good to see a reviewer doing it well. Demonstrating your knowledge and increasing my own understanding of knife sharpening Plus getting to the bottom of the Horl mystery. Thumbs up from me!
I wanted to explore the rolling sharpeners and opted to go with the worksharp version. The main reasons were that it offered 4 angles (not 2) and also had 3 grit sizes (320, 600 & ceramic). These were really well on medium to large kitchen knives, however like you discovered in the video, smaller paring knives, or even edc knives don't work as well as you cannot get fully to the hilt. So for kitchen knives, the WS version is excellent.....I will see over time how the grits bed in. good to see an independent video on stuff like this.
Just use a block, this is nothing more than a sander. The block will last longer and will remove excess material from the blade eventually damaging the blade to much.
Holy shit you actually finally uploaded a video about these knife sharpeners. I've been holding out on buying them for two months now hoping that their suddenly popularity will cause you to make a video covering them. Thanks for the video, lol.
I got the Horl 2 with the premium sharpening add ons, I don't have any knives that are damaged so haven't needed the course grinding disk you can get for that, every comparison i've seen suggests that the horl rolls much smoother thanks to actual bearings rather than bushings and the magnet stand is much stronger, it's actually meditative to use imo
Man, I love it when you debunk b/s in the knife sharpening world! Was so much fun watching the video, despite already knowing what you will most likely say. Cheers!
HI, I have an original Horl2 with extra coarase and fine plates. Yes, it is expensive but I am very satisfied since the tool compensates my poor sharpening skills and with the additional plates I always have in our kitchen all knives, no matter if they are of high or poor quality rasor edge sharp.
I have the HORL 2 with all the additional stones. Even the Japanese stone for mirror like finish. Would be awesome if you could test and evaluate this sharpening setup
@outdoors55 could you test it pls? have it at home in the standard version. The big question for me is how long do I need to sharpen to get perfekt result?
I don't really see the point. Any good quality material will sharpen knives just fine. The premise is simple and should work. The point of this test is to show that the material used by the knockoffs are clearly inferior. What he said at the end of the video is what matters, you need to know the basics of how to sharpen a knife. The horl won't tell you when to stop sharpening, or how to hone, etc.
Well Done! I have recently been thinking about better methods to sharpen my set of kitchen knives--a delightful matchup of favorite blades selected through 30+ years of kitchen bufoonery. In less than 15 minutes, you have introduced me to a new method of doing so--and shown me what to avoid... Along the way I learned a bit about metal testing, sharpening, and a changeup in my macrophotography stand. Absolutely Outstanding!
I am really impressed at how you used a brick to get to hair shaving sharpness. I used to try that when I was a kid with an old pocket knife my dad gave me. All these years I thought I had been doing the wrong thing. Also, I've never thought of Ben Hur as a movie tp sharpen knives by. Btw, I trust your conclusions.
Please stay like this. Independently and stubbornly proving detailed stuff. As a cook learning to sharpen his knives for over 2 years now, I am grateful to have found you in all the 'internet opinions' ❤
Great video bringing some light onto a product way too overhyped. As you've mentioned, one could sharpen a knife using pretty much anything and even though I do have quite a nice whetstone, I usually just use the uncoated ring on the underside of a ceramic plate or bowl. For the 3 knives I own (one of which is a bread knife so it doesn't need to be sharpened all that often) it's just faster to grab some plate from the table or wherever and spend a minute for the knives being sharp enough for basically anything cooking related...
I have the Horl 2, and I love it. You do have to clean it, as you would any other steel sharpening tool, but it hasn't gotten dull like the Tumbler in this video.
For about the same money as the Horl you can get three shapton stones but that requires a fair bit of time to build the necessary experience to get a good result. The idea seems to work so for those that just want a sharper knife quickly without all the fuzz it can certainly be an option, even if I think that the price point is a bit high.
Seriously if people would just learn the skill even slightly they’d have better and faster success on even the $15-20 diamond scales. Cheap Aluminum oxide stones being the last thing newbies come in contact with. And these rolling things work but not as efficiently as proper stones in my opinion.
I'd say your comment gets negated by it only working good for a low amount of time? 🤔 Edit: I got confused and thought he's using the horl, your now right id say
Ya I got a nice tri stone setup with nice Arkansas whetstone for $75 about 10 years ago and just learned to freehand sharpen. It's worked for centuries so probably good enough for my kitchen. Just takes a few tries and its second nature. I don't get all these gimmicks
@@timlong1462 people ive encountered both irl and online would rather pay 100 usd more to get less food simply because they don't want to drive half a mile to the grocery store and assemble the ingredients. like, why in the hell would you pay 160 usd for 4 8 inch long lunchmeat sandwiches? theres a walmart like not even 3 blocks down just buy the meat and bread, in addition to costing less you don't even need to wait. hell, my walmart is around 5 miles from where i live and i have no car yet even then i still shop there over ordering food. the tldr is that people are weirdly lazy in how much they want to think about stuff or develop skills, they'd rather go for a extra 12 hour shift at work than a few minutes a day over a month learning a new skill.
Thanks for this video. I am a sharpening enthusiast and I have been curious about these roller style sharpeners. I agree that there needs to be the right grit and hardness on the ends. I have been looking at less expensive versions that include multiple grit discs for the ends. Ones that seem to have grit numbers spaced right for (as you explain) establishing a bevel, refining it and honing finer still. I personally don't expect any sharpening system to strop for me, I think of it as another step in the process.
Thanks for the thorough review. Too often People will try something once and give a glowing review unaware of how it will hold up over time or what else is comparable.
As a Horl 2 (gen 2) owner I can also say that the magnets are hilariously strong and the issue had with small knives at around 11:50 is not an issue with the Horl.
I'm happy to have a Horl 2. Not had it for long, but works fine so far. The disks can be replaced, and they have some different disk you can get aside from the standard ones if you like. (I do have regular stones as well, and know how to use them, but sometimes I'm lazy... and there are other members in the household who don't.)
I checked into Horl about 4 years ago or so. Because of price I didn't get one. However, I think they also have extra caps to purchase that have different grit sizes on them. Thank you for the video. one solution to the smaller knife problem is to put something under the spine of the knife to elevate it.
This is the kind of review we need for every product out there Not that I would ever buy one of these (I prefer whetstone method) I appreciate your input - Thanks
@@OUTDOORS55 Might be neat to do something on seeing how much of a challenge it is to get a good sharpening stone found in nature, like off a river bed or such. I figure finding something that will cleave well into 3 slabs, so they can be dressed flat via the Whitworth method would be a start. (Isn't that basically what you're buying with some of the better natural stones out there? Although I'm sure they quarry for them in specific locations.)
i do own a horl 2 and it works pretty nice. You can even swap out the side so it fit to your need. Expensiv but great for a noob to keep his knives reasonably sharp
I bought the HORL as well as some random one from Amazon. Returned both. Just didn't do that great of a job and really only do a mildly passable job on a narrow range of knives.
I bought the five sided unit sold on Amazon. It was the cheapest one available. It works great plus it has multiple discs that are interchangeable. The finest goes up to 1000 grit. I have given it to some friends who are not expert sharpeners. They love it.
I bought the Hone company version, made in Canada, After researching a few of these including the one made by worksharp. The manufacturing on the Hone as well as the quality of the diamond plates probably places it at the top of the heap for this style of sharpener and is doing a very good job on my kitchen knives and a few folders. It seems to be the only one with an adjustable height for smaller knives as well as full height for chef's knives....
If I was interested in one of these systems I'd go for the Work Sharp. It comes with 320 and 600 grit diamond disks, plus a fine ceramic. It also offers a choice of four angles, while I believe the others only offer two. It's closer in price to the Tumblr than the Horl.
Plus, the work sharp seems like it has a MUCH better grip; not only is it textured, but it positions your hand away from the edge of your knife. With this Horl, you're basically rolling your hand back and forth right next to your edge, and a single slip might mean you need stitches; since these things are marketed towards low-info and/or low-skill users, slipping seems a lot more likely, and it seems irresponsible to not consider that in their design. EDIT: typo
The lansky clamp system is pretty affordable and actually works really well. I used to use it a lot. Over time I learned how to sharpen without it so I usually don't pull it out unless a knife needs to be completely reprofiled with a new angle or something.
@@ShootingUtah that's what I'm saying! For the price you may as well get a lansky, you can completely reprofile an edge or just maintain with it. And so many more options as well. But yeah, most of us probably just carry 2 reversible stones and maybe a strop for hunting, if that.
really appreciate the empirical way you went about reviewing the convincing-looking knockoff, and gave props to the original inventors! So much of this could be filtered out if Amazon allowed you to filter by "country of origin", but hopefully your video will correct some of the imbalances in Amazon's algorithms!
Thanks for reviewing this these. I’ve been curious about them. I appreciate that you give honest commentary and dont try to get your viewers to buy anything. You give us facts and maybe an opinion but you never try to sell us stuff. I appreciate that and your informative content. Thanks again and please keep up the great work.
Patents are often written in deliberately confusing terms so that the patent can cover as many concepts related to an object or process without exposing loopholes.
Try the Horl 2 Pro model. It has a planetary gear system inside that speeds up sharpening up to 3x and is even more expensive than the regular one. I have it and I love it. It’s perfect for noobs like me. I tried all sorts of whetstones before but simply don’t find the time and patience to get good with these. The Horl 2 pro is so chill to use, that I can even watch TH-cam videos while using it. :D Absolutely satisfying feeling and sound, too due to the gear mechanic inside. It’s like comparing Apple with PC.
I have the same one. Best thing is that it's very hard to screw up the edge with a bad pass like seems to happen with freehand sharpening. It's just dead on consistent every time.
I don't have the ultra fancy once. But its the convenience and the ease of use that makes all the difference. Easy setup and fantastic for people who don't find the necessity to get everything to absolute perfection. It comes out fantastic, can still cut paper with ease and glides through meat and produce without effort. More the enough for your average home cook.
I began seeing this Tumbler sharpener within the past month or so and I was curious if it was better / easier to put a razor edge on my expensive kitchen knives that my Japanese whetstone I bought more than 20 years ago while living in Japan. I love my whetstone as it has always worked flawlessly but I am always looking for new tools. Thank you for saving me $100 as I may have bought this $20 Tumbler sharpener for $100.
What they've really tried to do is make a precise ANGLE rather than the freehand sharpening technique which takes lots and lots of practice and also, as you demonstrated quite beautifully, its no good for smaller knives other than chefs knives, exactly why its one of the reasons why I dismissed the Tumbler as well as the Horl (which charges for add ons). So much money for a few knives instead of all of them, we all don't use larger knives at all. We have different knives for different jobs. Its all about the ANGLE here not the equipment IMHO.
Also bought a Horl. Have been using it for six months with no issues. I was really glad to see reviews before buying. I had an order placed for the Tumbler and immediately cancelled it when I saw the side by side comparison. You just see Tumbler advertised a lot more, from my experience.
People want some gimmick instead of spending an hour learning and practicing techniques that have existed for literally thousands of years with a quality $50 stone or two that will last a lifetime. I guess they’re not vibey enough to sell well since it’s literally just a very nice chunk of stone.
THANK YOU. I knew about Horl already, having seen it in a video a month or two earlier, then I saw the sudden and massive media push for Tumbler. It was suddenly EVERYWHERE. There were reviewers who made reviews of the thing, that, when informed of the pre-existence of Horl, went back and took down their reviews and apologized to Horl for it. They had no reason to know, except by complete happenstance, like me, that there was a predecessor on the market that did exactly the same thing the same way, but actually functional. I have a DMT diamond sharpener, I have the Work Sharp diamond sharpener, and now I have the Work Sharp powered belt sharpener. I've started making my own strops, because I saw the price of a simple pocket paddle strop at $22 USD. I had leather, a piece of a wooden meter-stick, some really great glue, and a bagful of graduated grit stropping compound sticks. So, 20 minutes later, I had a strop in the vise, clamped up for the adhesive to cure. Next day, I cleaned up the squeezed out excess glue, trimmed the leather a bit, and hit it with some blue compound (one step finer than green). Works like a champ. I keep all of my knives as sharp as possible, because I've seen the scars that dull knives leave behind. People get lazy around dull knives, and learn bad practices. When I started in the kitchen in college, I found the triple oilstone sharpening station and hit all of the knives in the rack, then put up a sign saying "CAUTION: The knives are now freshly sharpened, and are RAZOR SHARP. Please use appropriate caution!" Within two hours, I was driving a guy to the ER. He had gotten used to cutting chunks of meat by holding it in his hand and sawing through it with the dull knives. It would have been a miracle for it to cut his hand without his noticing, but if it had, it would have torn through his palm. But this time, he ignored the HUGE SIGN over the knife rack, put a hunk of ham on his hand, and made a single slice instead of sawing. It went through the ham in an instant, and across his palm before he realized what was going on. I saw it, grabbed a handful of clean paper towels, and slapped them onto his hand, and told him to hold them there tightly. Then I dragged him to my car, stuck him in my passenger seat, reclined it and told him to lie down. Then I drove like a bat out of hell to the ER. Thankfully, he'd done that with my freshly-sharpened knife. The doctor remarked that the cut was so clean and straight, he wouldn't even likely have a scar. The biggest worry was that he'd hit tendons, but he missed them all and it was only really messy. The paper towels helped. But if that knife had been dull, it would have been BAD. This was the first (but not the only) time the professional running the kitchen and I tangled asses over her idiotic lazy procedures. She was later fired because she'd been skimming off the food orders, buying what she said was an expensive item, but buying the cheapest that would serve and pocketing the difference. The thing that got her caught was that she now had a professional assistant, who was watching her like a hawk, and he saw her do this with supposed Prime Rib for the Alumni Association Dinner. She bought the cheapest meat that looked roughly like Prime Rib, hit it with a bunch of Adolph's, and, while a touch chewy, tasted okay. But it wasn't what the Alumni had paid for, so she got nailed. (God, the stories I could tell...)
@@jamiejam9976 First of all why would my cat be anywhere near a blade i am handling no matter which side is up? Second They definitely know fear e.g. from larger animals. Third as long as the threat is moving they can have great threat assessment.
As far as i know, honing tools are only meant to straighten a knife edge. Stropping is for bur removal. Honing is for edge allignment. Please correct me if im wrong.
@@OUTDOORS55yes the horl has removable disks, the catch being to upgrade you need to spend another $140 on the other grits pushing it up to about $320 😯 Also worth noting It looks like horl has made a newer “Cruise” version thats about $40 cheaper than the horl 2 version. Getting that price point closer to competitors.
They are a waste of money if you work in the industry. The bearings gunk up and stops rolling. Your better off learning how to use your whetstones properly. Your edge will last longer and get sharper. Also the grit on the sharpener side wears off in about a week, since you are supposed to use it for upkeep instead of sharpening from dull. Oh and the strop you can buy for extra is verrry mehhhhhh
For me and my uses (kitchen knives, pocket knives, fixed blades), the Ken Onion with the Blade-Grinder attachment (bigger and open belts) is terrific. It's easy, fast, repeatable, and adjustable. Plus, I've sharpened dozens of knives so far and am still on my first set of belts.
Greatvideo. I have the Horl 2 and highly rate and the edges that it can produce. I purchased the additional discs and strop and find that i can quickly restore and maintain my knives. Horl sell an even coarser diamond disc than the one that comes with it and the fact that the discs can be changed/replaced is a great feature.
Why not the Horl? It was the original and the best (by a huge margin). The rest is very bad. I have been using the horl for years and it is very effective in delivering an uniform edge.
This. There are some other videos of people comparing horl to Tumblr and other knock offs and horl is much, much better. He does mention horl a lot in the video, so hopefully he does a follow-up video on horl
@@TJM-2023because he was asked REPEATEDLY to review this one (as he stated numerous times in this video!), so he graciously spent his time and money to appease those requests. And you fault him for that, because…? 🤷♂️🤦♂️
I started trying to learn to use a whetstone (and videos like yours were helpful), but given the fact that I work full-time, am currently in grad school, and need to spend some time with my wife, investing a bunch of time into learning and practicing how to get a consistent angle just isn't in the cards for me now. After finding a number of comparison videos between the Horl 2 and the Tumbler (and other knockoffs), it seemed the Horl is miles beyond the Tumbler. In addition to the points you mentioned, the overall build quality and magnet strength were two other aspects that swung me toward the Horl.
I'm using the original Horl 2 for about two years now, and it still works as good as when it was brand new! One of the best purchases I've made and definetly worth the money, buy original!
Tl;dr - what are the resulting groove patterns when using a rolling sharpen So first of all, LOVE your content. Best sharpening channel on this platform by a mile. Professional, to the point and thorough. Thank you for that! Second, i was highly considering getting a rolling sharpeners for daily use since I don’t have enough time to put into working on my technique these days and still want that manual sharpening finesse (I’ll probably be buying the Horl, Hone or Worksharp as they seem to offer actual useful grit variety). However one thing I didn’t see anyone address in the many reviews of these products is the actual groove pattern formed by the sharpening motion which is a ROLLING circular motion instead of a simple linear motion. I remember you mentioned in one of your stropping videos that post sharpening the main thing you want to do is refine the scratch pattern created by the stone, so you should strop in the same direction and motion you sharpened your blade. How does that work with rolling stones?
For those interested in this type of sharpener I would suggest taking a look at the Hone model. I have it and have been very pleased. Magnets on the base seem much stronger than the other brands to me plus they have an extremely wide number of grits available ranging from 200 all the way to 3000. Plus the base also includes two sides for smaller knives which I have found extremely useful for things like paring knives. Is it perfect? No. Does it do a good job of sharpening in a relatively short period of time for someone with no experience? Definitely at least in my opinion.
@timhonzel5455 I’m considering the Hone as well. What have you discovered that could be improved upon? Is the grip of the roller comfortable? The Worksharp roller looks better in this regard. Are the two included discs suitable enough for most general use?
I'm thinking about getting a sharpener. The tumbler had 20 degrees, and Horl had 15 degrees. If you take the most sophisticated Horl it's cost-wise like a Tormek 1. I tend to the Tormek due to a free scalable angle of sharpening, a five-year warranty, spare parts, and a good reputation with other users, especially for kitchen knives. What's your opinion on all of it? Yeah, it's a different price range, but I don't want to ruin a bunch of good knives 😢, they are not that cheap if you buy a German “Solingen-made” knife.
I purchased one of these but the brand was Proyan. I love it. Now to be clear, I am someone who has had reasonable experience over the past 30 years of sharpening many things that need sharpening, not just knives. (axes, wood chisels, cane knives, drills, spade bits, chain saws ect) Am I an expert at sharpening, given that range of sharpening? No. I dont feel that I am. Do I think I get a sharp and long lasting edge? Yes I do. Could I get a sharper edge and longer lasting edge if I spend more time researching better techniques and more time practicing? yes I could. Could I be bothered with that? no I couldnt, and I think that represents the vast majority of the population. Thats why I love this product. I think the biggest issue I face when sharpening something is what angle to use. Now I get it that you are professional knife sharpener and I get it that you have developed muscle memory that means when you sharpen it is second nature what angle to use. But the vast majority of the population does not have that level of skill. By the way I admire your skill level. With this product the question of what angle to use is taken away. I recieved 7 disks ranging from 800 grit to extremely fine ceramic disks. The 800 grit quickly gets a knive that is in poor shape to a reasonable edge and then quickly to very sharp edge with the other disks and I feel someone with no knowledge of correct angles or what rolled edges are or burrs on the blade ect could get great edge easily. My only critisim of the product is what you addressed with how small knives and large knives like meat cleavers dont work. However I found ways to do those as well using spacers and blocks
I am not a patient person when it comes to sharpening knives. I bought a $20 electric sharpener, it works well enough and it's quick. Then I deburr with ceramic. Perfect edge? Nope. Shave with it? Nope. But good enough for my kitchen use. (And I shave like my grandfather did - with a Remington electric. I've actually got one of his razors, I don't use it much because it has to be plugged in, but it still works well. My own is about 30 years old, I've only had to replace the batteries once.)
I like the tittle of this video. It's very descriptive and tells me what the video is about. "I Review the Tumbler Rolling Knife Sharpener" I really love that I installed DeArrow xD if it weren't for it I would never have watched this video.
Your scientific and empirical method of evaluating results has great meaning to me. On the other hand, I believe that to sharpen a steel knife (Fe + C + Etc.) a diamond tool (pure carbon abrasive) should not be used, as it is destined to lose its characteristics quite quickly in contact with the carbon of the blades. And this regardless of how much the abrasive tool costs. For me, diamond stones are very useful for dressing other stones, or for those carbon-free steels, but in the end only a few rare cases of diving knives would remain. Specifically, I find this tool elegant and stylish, but destined to remain at the bottom of the kitchen drawer after the first unsuccessful attempts, as you clearly highlighted during the tests.
My uncle has a rolling knife sharpener from the 1960s. Works great. It's also set up as two wheels with the sharpener thing in the middle, totally not the same as that one.
For those of us who are total newbees at sharpening using an electronic one is really easy - this one also looks easy. The two you recommend look... well, not easy. Do you have a video on how to use either of the two easy ones you post a link to here?
first video i ever saw from you and i have to say thank you. i sdaw this pop up on the internet everywhere around the same time as you and thought hey what a fancy little thing. never bought it though but happy i didn't. your video is very informative, light format and in the end it shows again and again why for a bit more money originals are usually always better. thanks
I have one and can say your review is dead on, however I still like it for what I use it for. It is of little use if you are trying to sharpen a knife that has been seriously neglected. I am no expert and have a hard time holding a knife at a consistent angle when sharpening. I use the tumbler for that final finishing to keep my angle perfect and again after every couple months or after heavy use to keep my knife sharp. However, I agree the honing side is next to useless. I use a different honing and a good strop. If you let your knife get too dull, it will take a while to get it sharp again. Thanks for your review, I wish I'd seen it before I bought it because I probably wouldn't have. I was expecting it to do a good job on all knives and found you are correct; it takes forever on a very dull knife. If you use it to keep a knife sharp it does a good job but don't expect trying to bring an old, neglected knife back to life with it. It will take a while if you do.
Thanks. I've sharpened wood chisels ao know a little about it, including the burr. I've used honing guides there that keep the chisel at the angle you choose. A person could use the honing rod that comes with most knife sets for stage 2, but that kind of defeats the purpose. I wanted a quick and easy knife sharpener, though I could use my stones for that. Consumer reports have tested the electric sharpeners and will probably go with one of those.
Have you tried the WorkSharp version? I got one as a gift. The sharpening block isn't a plain cylinder; it's comfortable to hold and I don't have to reposition my grip. The sharpener side is a magnet; it comes with three disks; coarse, fine(r), and ceramic. No idea if WS is going to make the disks in other grits. It worked pretty well, but I haven't used it as much as you have. The size and shape of the blade definitely makes a difference - if you're outside the zone, it's a pain in the backside. I do like it. No idea if it will maintain effectiveness.
I've bought the Horl2 2 years ago and I love it. The biggest noob can get a knife sharp in under 5 minutes. Yes whetstones will get a better finish but I just love the simplicity.
Before buying my Horl I had some doubts as well. Because of the aggressive Tumbler advertising. But discovered Horl to be the Original(?). And saw comments about the poor longevity of the the Tumbler, hence the cheaper price point. Plus seeing that there is a Horl version with replaceable discs, I felt that was the perfect choice. It allows me to maintain my nice knives without having to learn how to effectively use a whetstone. I have yet to have any complaints, with the exception that a investing in a strop would definitely help get it that much sharper. But that's money spent another day. In the meantime its been fantastic on its own for my own personal cooking use and regular maintenance of my knives.
Thanks for this video. It was very helpful. Your last comment was spot on. If you want to spend a long time sharpening your blades then get the right kind of stones and learn freehand.
Awesome video! The thing that really got me about this design, though, is the fact you are running your hand along the plane of an upturned blade. I know most people aren't going to have a problem but it feels like a fundamental flaw in the design.
Thank you for this video. I truly learned A LOT off of just this one video. You explained a lot of cool info that other sharpening vidoes never took the time to explain the reasoning as to why or why not something actually works or not. GREAT VIDEO 🏆
10:52 ... The tolerance for heat treating MANY tool and high-speed steels is Rockwell 2 (not 0.2 but TWO) .. So yes the "Tumbler" is not messing up the readings
I bought the Tumblr for $100 or thereabouts and I also bought the knock off for around $50 or thereabouts and both of them came from Amazon which is the only place I will buy something like this. I suspected that it wasn't everything that they claimed.. I am by no means an expert when it comes to sharpening knives, and I'm primarily interested in kitchen knives. Does it sharpen kitchen knives, yes it does but for that kind of money can you duplicate or get better results for a lot less money? My conclusion is you can do a lot better for a lot less money and so hence the reason that I bought from Amazon, because both of them were returned.
I’ve been looking at these rolling sharpeners for several weeks. Would you be willing to give your opinion of this one? Arbenefe Rolling Knife Sharpener with 5 Replaceable Diamond and Ceramic Discs, 5-in-1 Knife Sharpener for Steel of any Hardness, Magnetic Base with Two Fixed Angles - 15°&20°. It’s from Amazon and has the same price point of the Tumbler. I like that it has replaceable disks and uses several different grinds of ceramic for honing. The course grind of the diamond disk is also close to what you were recommending. My budget is limited or I would invest in the Horl. Thank you for a very informative video. I’m glad I saw it before investing in the Tumbler.
Try the Hone sharpener made in Canada. Similar design but has 400 grit side and 1000 grit side. The magnetic block has a 20 and 15 degree option plus a special notch on both sides for smaller knives. I finish it with a couple of passes on a very fine diamond steel. Had one for a year and it still works beautifully.
Am I correct that your general approach for sharpening dull knives is a 400 grit diamond stone followed by stropping with a high quality 6 micron paste? I’ve seen produce scary sharp edges with great edge retention using that method. Seems like a more efficient process which produces a superior sharpness and longer lasting edge. That 2x4 experiment with cheap knives you did was pretty jaw dropping!
I bought HORL 2 and I use with my Wushtof and KAI knives. I am not a professional but so far I find it really helpful. I am not able to find the right angle with the KAI stone. Actually if I am not wrong with HORL you can buy different coarse
I have my Horl since a few year now. And i sharpend a lot of knifes. i did not notice a large fall off the performance. It´s not the fastest process but it´s easy. even my old dad is able to sharpen his knifes with it.
Best Rolling sharpener?⬇ Let me know your thoughts on these below!
amzn.to/490wUr9
🛑UDATE BELOW HORL RESPONDED🛑
This is an amazon affiliated link
I earn from qualifying purchases
UPDATE: Horl Responded⬇
Dear Alex,
Thank you for your message.
We are already aware of the offer and are currently checking the legal situation.
This is definitely not a subsidiary of ours and we have no other connection with this offer.
Since our patent attorneys have not yet completed their examination of the property rights,
I ask for your understanding that we cannot provide any more detailed information at this time.
However, we thank you very much for the information.
Kind regards from the black forest
Personal disclosure because other TH-camrs dont.
As an affiliate I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases made through product links at no additional cost to you.
Everything in this video was purchased with my own money.
I am not sponsored by anyone at the time this video was filmed.
I was not sent anything for free.
I am free to link to anything I want.
Thanks for watching!
Hey buddy ... which strop do you use..? I've watched your videos on how to make one ... but is there one you'd recommend..?
Or better: That you sell ... I went to knife point ... but wix says it's gone.
How do you know when a leather strop is not good..? I have a cheap one off amazon which I think might suck...and before I waste diamond emulsion on it figured I'd ask. Last ... there are those 1-3 micron bulk diamond powder off eBay (cheap) monocrystal ... I was thinking of getting that and then some gunny juice in maybe 1 micron? I ordered the Shapton Pro (per your suggestion) in 1000 2000 5000 ... I assume the highest 'grit' I use dictates which micron size I start with ..? Is that right..?
Thanks!
You forgot to remove one of the lids to expose the pork & beans inside! 😂 And, perhaps a fortune cookie!
if you want to test out the Horl version which is the superior one, i can send it to you, imho the work sharp one would come in second place for quality, the Tumbler version kinda sucks compared, however the Work sharp one has a way more resonable price compared to the Horl even though the HOrl is better, also i said in my videos that its only good for Chef knives atleast for the most part in my experience, great video as always
In the end, it's a fixed angle system, even with a coarser diamond side. This is no match to guided systems with a variable angle. Why spend so much money on a crutch? I have the KME and a couple of Korumaku's and Fällkniven DC4 and CC4. Currently only using the stones free-hand. These roller systems are marginally better than those pull-through systems from China.
Did you know FULL DISCLOSURE like you post is actually required by US federal law if you have affiliate links or a sponsored message in your video? Those TH-camrs who don't can actually lose more than their channel if the Feds chose to prosecute.
Funny thing is that I bought a Horl 2 sharpener a few years ago, and when these seemingly official Tumbler sharpeners came on the market, I started having doubts about whether I had actually bought a copy rather than the original design. Glad to hear that my initial purchase was from the original designers of the product, and got a finer quality sharpener to boot!
has it worked well?
@@thomasanonymous998I have used the Horl 2 Pro for 3-4 years and it works great…but…if you do not sharpen knifes very often, the basic version 2 is also fine (the difference between the two is that the pro uses a 3:1 ratio gear so the discs rotates 3 times as fast). To me it was money well spend and I‘m not going back to using sharpening stones anytime soon…
@@thomasanonymous998 I use it on kitchen knives, horl 2 works fantastic.
@@eduardoarce879 So you don't think copyright matters, honoring and letting those profit off of something they came up with opposed to throwing your money at someone who is just lazily ripping off ideas and while doing so, doing a very bad job at it but still asking for a premium price? You get a better v-sharpener for 5$ than what this thing is capable of.
@@AvidEricFirst of all. The patent for the roller sharpener and the roller rectifier is from 1992, that means there is no patent anymore, no copyrights were broken. Second, that is how inovation works, taking an existing product and trying to improve it, which in this case might no be but any other should be able to. Lastly, if you think a v-sharpener could do better, probably you dont know much about sharpening.
As a serial knife sharpener buyer who ironically acknowledges that a brick will sharpen a knife, I can only say…thank you!
As a part time couch potato, I can only say... hm.
Yeah; I tend to use a ceramic mug rather than 1 of my 30 actually knife sharpeners.
As a SERIAL WHA... oh, a knife sharpener buyer....
The brick even gets better when used..
All my cereal knives are dull... I mean spoons
I'm gonna be honest, you sharpening a butter knife on a brick is what convinced me that learning to properly sharpen a knife is worth more than any fancy tool out there.
That sharpened butter knife seems like a secret weapon for a hitman
Seriously, that was *crazy* impressive.
Have you sharpened an axe on your own legs?
I was seeing too many vids of these Tumblers being so perfect it quickly turned my interest to scepticism.
Glad i watched this.
My brick isn't giving me the same results you got. I think I'll return it.
It can the truck is proper technique and to use a leather strap after. The leather strap will fine the edge and it's very easy to use. When sharpening blades there's more than just the block you should do if you want it very sharp. These tumblers remove more material eventually damaging the blade as it's just a sander.
😂
Wot you need is a better brick. Git you a paver, not one of the bricks with three or four holes through it. Then soak it in a bucket of water overnight so it will be a wet stone. Ann U. Welcome
Was very interesting to watch your video! I actually grew up with Timo Horl, we were neighbors.
Can confirm he and Ottmar (his father) are not in any kind connected with the Tumbler guy 😉
Initially, his father was already working on this rolling sharpener when we were still kids - but it actually was Timo picking up on the project much later again and bringing it to the market in the end as you can now buy it.
So cool!
Yeah 🤣
Ich habe meinen Horl Rollschleifer vor ca. 6 Jahren direkt von ihm in Fulda auf einer Grill-Messe gekauft. Gut zu wissen, das die Geschichte stimmt 😅 Genau das gleiche hat er damals auch erzählt.
@@florian785Bist du heute noch zufrieden damit?
@@kasauerkrautimgulasch ja, funktioniert immer noch und ist für eine normale Schärfe ausreichend. Wegen dem vorgegebenen Winkel funktionieren nur nicht alle Messer, daher bin ich später auf diese Diamantplatten umgestiegen. Damit hatte ich bessere Ergebnisse. Aber für jemanden der darauf keine Lust hat ist der Rollschleifer ganz gut.
I got the HORL knife sharpener for Christmas two years ago. Still sharpening knives real good. Recommend it even.
At 73, I must really be 'old school', as a gift 50 years ago, I received a 4 oiled-whetstone set. A Washita, soft, hard & black hard Arkansas stones. Still use em, still swear by em!
My grandpa gave me a his old Grizzly bench grinder for sharpening my mower blades etc. It does kitchen knives in one pass as well, but I go through hell of a lot of kitchen/butcher knives lol. I'm going for a whetstone set now, as experience like your counts for quite a bit imo.
@@Peanutdenver I promise when you get used to using them, you will have razor sharp knives that will last you for years... Make sure you use 'Honing Oil' it the best for knife sharpening.
@@NickatLateNite I will and thank you for the advice.
I own the Horl and have purchased two of their finer grit disks to use with it and it's phenomenal however it (and many of the knock-offs) could be improved. If you have a knife with a wide blade it's necessary to place the roller on top of something of the correct thickness in order to sharpen the wider blade. This problem would be addressed by making a simple change to the magnetic blade holder. If you flip it over and raise it up by, say, an inch (you can glue a block to it) you can now attach a blade of any width, with the sharp edge down and slightly above the rolling surface. Another advantage of this flipped position is that it's safer - the sharp edge is down and not up - and you won't cut yourself if your hand slips off the roller.
One could use parallel sets to prop under knives that wouldn’t fit, if one was inclined. And/or use 1-2-3 blocks under the magnetic block, also.
it's the same hype as with stanley cup, on which idiots line up in queue. Sharpeners have existed since the dawn of time, and now you're just trying to reinvent the wheel.
Sounds like you should invent that 😅
@@iammichaeldavis Haha right? I was thinking that not all 'knock off' products are just cheap imitations, some actually iterate and make significant improvements on the original. Usually it's easy to tell the difference tho.
i agree with you. i just thought about raising the roller, but hadn't gotten to inverting the blade although i cringed at the sharp edge being pointed up.
I’m a blacksmith (not a blade smith, but I do make knives, axes, and swords) and I just found your channel. I am going to look at your other videos because I have sharpened blades on bricks before but have never seen anyone else do it! Instant fan.
Murray Carter shows how to sharpen on concrete.
Look him up.
@@xmachine7003 Murray Carter is THE OG. Amazing more pple don't know about that guy. What a wealth of knowledge. 90% of my hand sharpening technique is based on his early sharpening video content that was available on VHS and DVD back in the late 90s/early 2000s. If anyone knows anything about sharpening, it's a legitimate bladesmith who trained in Japan for over 10yrs and has teacher lineage going back hundreds of years...
@@sinbadthesailor87 16 years.
I have his video,scary sharp knives.
I like his work.
He has a free 2+ hour video on his channel.
He is The OG ;))
13:00 you gotta love that sunk cost fallacy, haha!
"I already spent money on it, so I want it to be good! Even if it's not!"
Its a great idea, but could be better👍
@@OUTDOORS55 Since it's pretty much not usable at this point. How about taking Arkansas Stones of the right size and put them on interchangeable plates, so you can change it out to different Grits.
I think I would use the angle jig to run blades against a belt grinder. Salvage it a little…
I went through that phase with the cheap diamond stones for my edge pro. They worked great for one or two knives but then there were no diamonds left and they did nothing. I wanted them to keep sharpening but had to throw them away. I’m back to the original stones from edge pro.
@@e.t.preppin7084you’re using way too much pressure bro
I own the Horl2 (with replacable discs) and was a Meat Cutter for nearly 16yrs. I got the sharpner bout 7yrs into my job and replaced the disc on the sharpner side 1 time. Same for the ceramic side. I absolutely loved it. I own Victorinox knives so when takin care of i dont need to sharpen often but the speed at wich u can get a nice edge and even edge was a godsend. A bit of a pain on the scimitar knives but still with use u got ways to do it. I love that sharpner n still have it to this day. ❤
Hey, i've got a question if you don't mind. When you sharpen a curved blade did you sharpen in a pull/push the whole blade or do you do it in parts?
the investigative journalism aspect to these videos is highly underrated....
It's because of how disproportionately better the Princess Bride clips are
Is it really journalism? Even though he says Im not sponsored if you pay attention there is an amazon affiliate link where he literally says he gets paid for them. I enjoyed most of the video but its clearly some backhanded advertisement. Now I know not to buy one at least
the stuff he actually uses and recommends have links as opposed to all the junk he tests....and he traces down the source and history for multiple products so yes, i would consider that investigative journalism...Also, I really don't see how the 2 are related in the first place lol @@jollygreen1862
@@jollygreen1862It's not just that they link to shit for affiliate links and pretend they aren't sponsored when affiliate links are literally a type of sponsorship that just hasn't been properly regulated. it's als that for investigative journalism... It's kinda missing the most basic investigation that isn't just "reviewing a product". Like looking into patents, which they didn't even care to do, is really easy. Like the bar is so low, they would've just had to google "Horl patent". Or literally asking any German. We could've told them that the knock-off dude doesn't sound German at all but instead sounds like they are a murrican trying really hard to imitate a German accent.
Other than the comments about German patents not applying in the US. Whilst true, companies will frequently take patents out in other significant markets. Whether Horl have or haven't done this want checked. Fair enough, but it came across as "I'm going to make an assumption and not even think to check its validity."
First time viewer of your channel. Good to see a reviewer doing it well. Demonstrating your knowledge and increasing my own understanding of knife sharpening
Plus getting to the bottom of the Horl mystery. Thumbs up from me!
I wanted to explore the rolling sharpeners and opted to go with the worksharp version. The main reasons were that it offered 4 angles (not 2) and also had 3 grit sizes (320, 600 & ceramic). These were really well on medium to large kitchen knives, however like you discovered in the video, smaller paring knives, or even edc knives don't work as well as you cannot get fully to the hilt. So for kitchen knives, the WS version is excellent.....I will see over time how the grits bed in. good to see an independent video on stuff like this.
I wish he'd test the work sharp vs this one.
Just use a block, this is nothing more than a sander. The block will last longer and will remove excess material from the blade eventually damaging the blade to much.
Holy shit you actually finally uploaded a video about these knife sharpeners. I've been holding out on buying them for two months now hoping that their suddenly popularity will cause you to make a video covering them. Thanks for the video, lol.
So is it worth getting ?
@@magouliana32 Right? I find the video was light on conclusions.
you aren't convincing me @@rblxlenny
@@sp10sndon't buy it.
I got the Horl 2 with the premium sharpening add ons, I don't have any knives that are damaged so haven't needed the course grinding disk you can get for that, every comparison i've seen suggests that the horl rolls much smoother thanks to actual bearings rather than bushings and the magnet stand is much stronger, it's actually meditative to use imo
Man, I love it when you debunk b/s in the knife sharpening world! Was so much fun watching the video, despite already knowing what you will most likely say. Cheers!
HI,
I have an original Horl2 with extra coarase and fine plates. Yes, it is expensive but I am very satisfied since the tool compensates my poor sharpening skills and with the additional plates I always have in our kitchen all knives, no matter if they are of high or poor quality rasor edge sharp.
I have the HORL 2 with all the additional stones. Even the Japanese stone for mirror like finish. Would be awesome if you could test and evaluate this sharpening setup
@outdoors55 could you test it pls? have it at home in the standard version. The big question for me is how long do I need to sharpen to get perfekt result?
I second a test like this!
I don't really see the point. Any good quality material will sharpen knives just fine. The premise is simple and should work. The point of this test is to show that the material used by the knockoffs are clearly inferior.
What he said at the end of the video is what matters, you need to know the basics of how to sharpen a knife. The horl won't tell you when to stop sharpening, or how to hone, etc.
Appeal to Horl to send him one to test.
does it work well for you?
Well Done! I have recently been thinking about better methods to sharpen my set of kitchen knives--a delightful matchup of favorite blades selected through 30+ years of kitchen bufoonery.
In less than 15 minutes, you have introduced me to a new method of doing so--and shown me what to avoid... Along the way I learned a bit about metal testing, sharpening, and a changeup in my macrophotography stand.
Absolutely Outstanding!
I am really impressed at how you used a brick to get to hair shaving sharpness. I used to try that when I was a kid with an old pocket knife my dad gave me. All these years I thought I had been doing the wrong thing.
Also, I've never thought of Ben Hur as a movie tp sharpen knives by. Btw, I trust your conclusions.
Ben Hur! I knew I recognized that Overture, great catch.
Please stay like this. Independently and stubbornly proving detailed stuff. As a cook learning to sharpen his knives for over 2 years now, I am grateful to have found you in all the 'internet opinions' ❤
You’re still the king of knife sharpness .
Maybe the jester 😂👍
@OUTDOORS55
I can create some nice polished edges but your sharpening game is state of the art!!👏
Truth.
Hail to the King😮
Absolutely. I've learned more about sharpening and knives in general from this channel than everywhere else combined.
Great video bringing some light onto a product way too overhyped.
As you've mentioned, one could sharpen a knife using pretty much anything and even though I do have quite a nice whetstone, I usually just use the uncoated ring on the underside of a ceramic plate or bowl. For the 3 knives I own (one of which is a bread knife so it doesn't need to be sharpened all that often) it's just faster to grab some plate from the table or wherever and spend a minute for the knives being sharp enough for basically anything cooking related...
Man I never made the connection of you testing this weird sharpening device... finally a trustworthy review, thank you so much as always Alex!
I have the Horl 2, and I love it. You do have to clean it, as you would any other steel sharpening tool, but it hasn't gotten dull like the Tumbler in this video.
For about the same money as the Horl you can get three shapton stones but that requires a fair bit of time to build the necessary experience to get a good result. The idea seems to work so for those that just want a sharper knife quickly without all the fuzz it can certainly be an option, even if I think that the price point is a bit high.
or ~100 bricks
Seriously if people would just learn the skill even slightly they’d have better and faster success on even the $15-20 diamond scales. Cheap Aluminum oxide stones being the last thing newbies come in contact with. And these rolling things work but not as efficiently as proper stones in my opinion.
I'd say your comment gets negated by it only working good for a low amount of time? 🤔
Edit: I got confused and thought he's using the horl, your now right id say
Ya I got a nice tri stone setup with nice Arkansas whetstone for $75 about 10 years ago and just learned to freehand sharpen. It's worked for centuries so probably good enough for my kitchen. Just takes a few tries and its second nature. I don't get all these gimmicks
@@timlong1462 people ive encountered both irl and online would rather pay 100 usd more to get less food simply because they don't want to drive half a mile to the grocery store and assemble the ingredients. like, why in the hell would you pay 160 usd for 4 8 inch long lunchmeat sandwiches? theres a walmart like not even 3 blocks down just buy the meat and bread, in addition to costing less you don't even need to wait. hell, my walmart is around 5 miles from where i live and i have no car yet even then i still shop there over ordering food. the tldr is that people are weirdly lazy in how much they want to think about stuff or develop skills, they'd rather go for a extra 12 hour shift at work than a few minutes a day over a month learning a new skill.
Thanks for this video. I am a sharpening enthusiast and I have been curious about these roller style sharpeners. I agree that there needs to be the right grit and hardness on the ends. I have been looking at less expensive versions that include multiple grit discs for the ends. Ones that seem to have grit numbers spaced right for (as you explain) establishing a bevel, refining it and honing finer still. I personally don't expect any sharpening system to strop for me, I think of it as another step in the process.
Thanks for the thorough review. Too often People will try something once and give a glowing review unaware of how it will hold up over time or what else is comparable.
As a Horl 2 (gen 2) owner I can also say that the magnets are hilariously strong and the issue had with small knives at around 11:50 is not an issue with the Horl.
I'm happy to have a Horl 2. Not had it for long, but works fine so far. The disks can be replaced, and they have some different disk you can get aside from the standard ones if you like. (I do have regular stones as well, and know how to use them, but sometimes I'm lazy... and there are other members in the household who don't.)
Go learn how to use a wet stone, you will be getting knives so sharp that you can do surgery with it.
@@jj987987987 If you bothered to read what I wrote you would know that I already know how to do that.
no way would i be happy; maybe i just need your money ; )
I checked into Horl about 4 years ago or so. Because of price I didn't get one. However, I think they also have extra caps to purchase that have different grit sizes on them. Thank you for the video. one solution to the smaller knife problem is to put something under the spine of the knife to elevate it.
We bought a HORL a few years ago at a fair. Works quite well!
so must your wallet
This is the kind of review we need for every product out there
Not that I would ever buy one of these (I prefer whetstone method) I appreciate your input - Thanks
No one mentioned the fact that this man literally made a butter knife shaving sharp on a brick lmao
I have an OLD video specifically on that😂 Maybe its time for a re visit 😉
@@OUTDOORS55 Might be neat to do something on seeing how much of a challenge it is to get a good sharpening stone found in nature, like off a river bed or such. I figure finding something that will cleave well into 3 slabs, so they can be dressed flat via the Whitworth method would be a start. (Isn't that basically what you're buying with some of the better natural stones out there? Although I'm sure they quarry for them in specific locations.)
@@OUTDOORS55 I'm going to have to dig through the videos on your channel and find that.
i do own a horl 2 and it works pretty nice. You can even swap out the side so it fit to your need. Expensiv but great for a noob to keep his knives reasonably sharp
I bought the HORL as well as some random one from Amazon. Returned both. Just didn't do that great of a job and really only do a mildly passable job on a narrow range of knives.
Yep. I'm inundated with these ads. They aren't worth it, and I hope the trend ends soon.
they're insanely expensive. You can get a much better system for $30-$50. lol. These things are such a rip off.
I bought the five sided unit sold on Amazon. It was the cheapest one available. It works great plus it has multiple discs that are interchangeable. The finest goes up to 1000 grit. I have given it to some friends who are not expert sharpeners. They love it.
And thats why i watch your channel. No BS, lets learn something. Thanx
I bought the Hone company version, made in Canada, After researching a few of these including the one made by worksharp. The manufacturing on the Hone as well as the quality of the diamond plates probably places it at the top of the heap for this style of sharpener and is doing a very good job on my kitchen knives and a few folders. It seems to be the only one with an adjustable height for smaller knives as well as full height for chef's knives....
If I was interested in one of these systems I'd go for the Work Sharp. It comes with 320 and 600 grit diamond disks, plus a fine ceramic. It also offers a choice of four angles, while I believe the others only offer two. It's closer in price to the Tumblr than the Horl.
Agreed, or lansky, either set up is far more portable with loads more options.
Plus, the work sharp seems like it has a MUCH better grip; not only is it textured, but it positions your hand away from the edge of your knife. With this Horl, you're basically rolling your hand back and forth right next to your edge, and a single slip might mean you need stitches; since these things are marketed towards low-info and/or low-skill users, slipping seems a lot more likely, and it seems irresponsible to not consider that in their design.
EDIT: typo
The lansky clamp system is pretty affordable and actually works really well. I used to use it a lot. Over time I learned how to sharpen without it so I usually don't pull it out unless a knife needs to be completely reprofiled with a new angle or something.
@@ShootingUtah that's what I'm saying! For the price you may as well get a lansky, you can completely reprofile an edge or just maintain with it. And so many more options as well. But yeah, most of us probably just carry 2 reversible stones and maybe a strop for hunting, if that.
1 x 30 belt sander + finer belts + angle guide = 👌
really appreciate the empirical way you went about reviewing the convincing-looking knockoff, and gave props to the original inventors! So much of this could be filtered out if Amazon allowed you to filter by "country of origin", but hopefully your video will correct some of the imbalances in Amazon's algorithms!
Watching with the the video up for only four minutes. Thank you for the entertainment and education on a cold winter day.
It was very cold editing and filming this as well🥶 Thanks for watching!
Lol... "That took about two minutes." Tumbler: "I softened it up for the Brick! I swear!" Lol.
I have the original horl 2 and it's sharpens really well.
thanks bud...good review. seen the ads and checked it out, saw the costs ...HELL NO! Bought a $6 stone with two different grits...worked like a charm
Thanks for reviewing this these. I’ve been curious about them. I appreciate that you give honest commentary and dont try to get your viewers to buy anything. You give us facts and maybe an opinion but you never try to sell us stuff. I appreciate that and your informative content. Thanks again and please keep up the great work.
Patents are often written in deliberately confusing terms so that the patent can cover as many concepts related to an object or process without exposing loopholes.
Yep. Patent trolls. Nintendo is doing it against Palworld. Their patents are nonsense.
Try the Horl 2 Pro model. It has a planetary gear system inside that speeds up sharpening up to 3x and is even more expensive than the regular one. I have it and I love it. It’s perfect for noobs like me. I tried all sorts of whetstones before but simply don’t find the time and patience to get good with these. The Horl 2 pro is so chill to use, that I can even watch TH-cam videos while using it. :D Absolutely satisfying feeling and sound, too due to the gear mechanic inside. It’s like comparing Apple with PC.
I have the same one. Best thing is that it's very hard to screw up the edge with a bad pass like seems to happen with freehand sharpening. It's just dead on consistent every time.
I don't have the ultra fancy once. But its the convenience and the ease of use that makes all the difference. Easy setup and fantastic for people who don't find the necessity to get everything to absolute perfection. It comes out fantastic, can still cut paper with ease and glides through meat and produce without effort. More the enough for your average home cook.
I began seeing this Tumbler sharpener within the past month or so and I was curious if it was better / easier to put a razor edge on my expensive kitchen knives that my Japanese whetstone I bought more than 20 years ago while living in Japan. I love my whetstone as it has always worked flawlessly but I am always looking for new tools. Thank you for saving me $100 as I may have bought this $20 Tumbler sharpener for $100.
What they've really tried to do is make a precise ANGLE rather than the freehand sharpening technique which takes lots and lots of practice and also, as you demonstrated quite beautifully, its no good for smaller knives other than chefs knives, exactly why its one of the reasons why I dismissed the Tumbler as well as the Horl (which charges for add ons). So much money for a few knives instead of all of them, we all don't use larger knives at all. We have different knives for different jobs. Its all about the ANGLE here not the equipment IMHO.
Also bought a Horl. Have been using it for six months with no issues. I was really glad to see reviews before buying. I had an order placed for the Tumbler and immediately cancelled it when I saw the side by side comparison. You just see Tumbler advertised a lot more, from my experience.
Your content has always been great but it's really gone next level of late. So informative and so entertaining ❤
your calibration trick makes me instantly respect you. good job !
This is exactly why I like using stones. I know what grit they are, how they work, and achieve the same results every time.
People want some gimmick instead of spending an hour learning and practicing techniques that have existed for literally thousands of years with a quality $50 stone or two that will last a lifetime. I guess they’re not vibey enough to sell well since it’s literally just a very nice chunk of stone.
THANK YOU.
I knew about Horl already, having seen it in a video a month or two earlier, then I saw the sudden and massive media push for Tumbler. It was suddenly EVERYWHERE. There were reviewers who made reviews of the thing, that, when informed of the pre-existence of Horl, went back and took down their reviews and apologized to Horl for it. They had no reason to know, except by complete happenstance, like me, that there was a predecessor on the market that did exactly the same thing the same way, but actually functional.
I have a DMT diamond sharpener, I have the Work Sharp diamond sharpener, and now I have the Work Sharp powered belt sharpener. I've started making my own strops, because I saw the price of a simple pocket paddle strop at $22 USD. I had leather, a piece of a wooden meter-stick, some really great glue, and a bagful of graduated grit stropping compound sticks. So, 20 minutes later, I had a strop in the vise, clamped up for the adhesive to cure. Next day, I cleaned up the squeezed out excess glue, trimmed the leather a bit, and hit it with some blue compound (one step finer than green). Works like a champ. I keep all of my knives as sharp as possible, because I've seen the scars that dull knives leave behind. People get lazy around dull knives, and learn bad practices. When I started in the kitchen in college, I found the triple oilstone sharpening station and hit all of the knives in the rack, then put up a sign saying "CAUTION: The knives are now freshly sharpened, and are RAZOR SHARP. Please use appropriate caution!"
Within two hours, I was driving a guy to the ER. He had gotten used to cutting chunks of meat by holding it in his hand and sawing through it with the dull knives. It would have been a miracle for it to cut his hand without his noticing, but if it had, it would have torn through his palm. But this time, he ignored the HUGE SIGN over the knife rack, put a hunk of ham on his hand, and made a single slice instead of sawing. It went through the ham in an instant, and across his palm before he realized what was going on. I saw it, grabbed a handful of clean paper towels, and slapped them onto his hand, and told him to hold them there tightly. Then I dragged him to my car, stuck him in my passenger seat, reclined it and told him to lie down. Then I drove like a bat out of hell to the ER.
Thankfully, he'd done that with my freshly-sharpened knife. The doctor remarked that the cut was so clean and straight, he wouldn't even likely have a scar. The biggest worry was that he'd hit tendons, but he missed them all and it was only really messy. The paper towels helped. But if that knife had been dull, it would have been BAD.
This was the first (but not the only) time the professional running the kitchen and I tangled asses over her idiotic lazy procedures. She was later fired because she'd been skimming off the food orders, buying what she said was an expensive item, but buying the cheapest that would serve and pocketing the difference. The thing that got her caught was that she now had a professional assistant, who was watching her like a hawk, and he saw her do this with supposed Prime Rib for the Alumni Association Dinner. She bought the cheapest meat that looked roughly like Prime Rib, hit it with a bunch of Adolph's, and, while a touch chewy, tasted okay. But it wasn't what the Alumni had paid for, so she got nailed. (God, the stories I could tell...)
the idea of sharpening any blade with the edge UP, just gives me the willies
Are you afraid of headbutting into them, or something like that?
@@schenkov^^^ this guy doesn't have cats or kids.
@@jamiejam9976 Well since my cat recently died of old age you're actually right.
@@schenkov you should know then that cats will rub their face against any edge, they don't care, they don't feel fear
@@jamiejam9976 First of all why would my cat be anywhere near a blade i am handling no matter which side is up?
Second They definitely know fear e.g. from larger animals.
Third as long as the threat is moving they can have great threat assessment.
As far as i know, honing tools are only meant to straighten a knife edge. Stropping is for bur removal. Honing is for edge allignment. Please correct me if im wrong.
the horl pro with the planetary gears looks wild but that money probably gets you a pretty nice set of sharpening stones
I believe they are interchangeable too! I hope to get one to look at in the future 🙂
@@OUTDOORS55yes the horl has removable disks, the catch being to upgrade you need to spend another $140 on the other grits pushing it up to about $320 😯
Also worth noting It looks like horl has made a newer “Cruise” version thats about $40 cheaper than the horl 2 version. Getting that price point closer to competitors.
It does sharpen. But so does a brick. I was looking at this knife sharpener and now I know where to find the original. Thank you for the preview!
They are a waste of money if you work in the industry. The bearings gunk up and stops rolling. Your better off learning how to use your whetstones properly. Your edge will last longer and get sharper. Also the grit on the sharpener side wears off in about a week, since you are supposed to use it for upkeep instead of sharpening from dull. Oh and the strop you can buy for extra is verrry mehhhhhh
There are no bearings.
Just another gatekept community. Keep your sharp knives then.
For me and my uses (kitchen knives, pocket knives, fixed blades), the Ken Onion with the Blade-Grinder attachment (bigger and open belts) is terrific. It's easy, fast, repeatable, and adjustable. Plus, I've sharpened dozens of knives so far and am still on my first set of belts.
I was curious about theese things, so i'm glad you're making this video
Greatvideo. I have the Horl 2 and highly rate and the edges that it can produce. I purchased the additional discs and strop and find that i can quickly restore and maintain my knives. Horl sell an even coarser diamond disc than the one that comes with it and the fact that the discs can be changed/replaced is a great feature.
Why not the Horl? It was the original and the best (by a huge margin). The rest is very bad. I have been using the horl for years and it is very effective in delivering an uniform edge.
This. There are some other videos of people comparing horl to Tumblr and other knock offs and horl is much, much better. He does mention horl a lot in the video, so hopefully he does a follow-up video on horl
I explained that exact question in the video 👍
@@TJM-2023because he was asked REPEATEDLY to review this one (as he stated numerous times in this video!), so he graciously spent his time and money to appease those requests. And you fault him for that, because…? 🤷♂️🤦♂️
I started trying to learn to use a whetstone (and videos like yours were helpful), but given the fact that I work full-time, am currently in grad school, and need to spend some time with my wife, investing a bunch of time into learning and practicing how to get a consistent angle just isn't in the cards for me now.
After finding a number of comparison videos between the Horl 2 and the Tumbler (and other knockoffs), it seemed the Horl is miles beyond the Tumbler. In addition to the points you mentioned, the overall build quality and magnet strength were two other aspects that swung me toward the Horl.
You are talking and talking with no relevant information ... first question would be: how good do they do the job? These were 3:36 lost lifetime ...
I'm using the original Horl 2 for about two years now, and it still works as good as when it was brand new! One of the best purchases I've made and definetly worth the money, buy original!
Tl;dr - what are the resulting groove patterns when using a rolling sharpen
So first of all, LOVE your content. Best sharpening channel on this platform by a mile. Professional, to the point and thorough. Thank you for that!
Second, i was highly considering getting a rolling sharpeners for daily use since I don’t have enough time to put into working on my technique these days and still want that manual sharpening finesse (I’ll probably be buying the Horl, Hone or Worksharp as they seem to offer actual useful grit variety).
However one thing I didn’t see anyone address in the many reviews of these products is the actual groove pattern formed by the sharpening motion which is a ROLLING circular motion instead of a simple linear motion.
I remember you mentioned in one of your stropping videos that post sharpening the main thing you want to do is refine the scratch pattern created by the stone, so you should strop in the same direction and motion you sharpened your blade.
How does that work with rolling stones?
For those interested in this type of sharpener I would suggest taking a look at the Hone model. I have it and have been very pleased. Magnets on the base seem much stronger than the other brands to me plus they have an extremely wide number of grits available ranging from 200 all the way to 3000. Plus the base also includes two sides for smaller knives which I have found extremely useful for things like paring knives. Is it perfect? No. Does it do a good job of sharpening in a relatively short period of time for someone with no experience? Definitely at least in my opinion.
@timhonzel5455 I’m considering the Hone as well. What have you discovered that could be improved upon? Is the grip of the roller comfortable? The Worksharp roller looks better in this regard. Are the two included discs suitable enough for most general use?
Man, this is my first video of yours and I have to say I'm impressed. Very well done
I'm thinking about getting a sharpener. The tumbler had 20 degrees, and Horl had 15 degrees. If you take the most sophisticated Horl it's cost-wise like a Tormek 1. I tend to the Tormek due to a free scalable angle of sharpening, a five-year warranty, spare parts, and a good reputation with other users, especially for kitchen knives. What's your opinion on all of it? Yeah, it's a different price range, but I don't want to ruin a bunch of good knives 😢, they are not that cheap if you buy a German “Solingen-made” knife.
I purchased one of these but the brand was Proyan. I love it. Now to be clear, I am someone who has had reasonable experience over the past 30 years of sharpening many things that need sharpening, not just knives. (axes, wood chisels, cane knives, drills, spade bits, chain saws ect) Am I an expert at sharpening, given that range of sharpening? No. I dont feel that I am.
Do I think I get a sharp and long lasting edge? Yes I do.
Could I get a sharper edge and longer lasting edge if I spend more time researching better techniques and more time practicing?
yes I could.
Could I be bothered with that? no I couldnt, and I think that represents the vast majority of the population.
Thats why I love this product. I think the biggest issue I face when sharpening something is what angle to use. Now I get it that you are professional knife sharpener and I get it that you have developed muscle memory that means when you sharpen it is second nature what angle to use. But the vast majority of the population does not have that level of skill. By the way I admire your skill level.
With this product the question of what angle to use is taken away. I recieved 7 disks ranging from 800 grit to extremely fine ceramic disks. The 800 grit quickly gets a knive that is in poor shape to a reasonable edge and then quickly to very sharp edge with the other disks and I feel someone with no knowledge of correct angles or what rolled edges are or burrs on the blade ect could get great edge easily.
My only critisim of the product is what you addressed with how small knives and large knives like meat cleavers dont work. However I found ways to do those as well using spacers and blocks
i use the horl since several months in my private kitchen and cooking adventures, and i am very happy with the results!
I have one as well i am reviewing at some point. Its great👍👍
I am not a patient person when it comes to sharpening knives. I bought a $20 electric sharpener, it works well enough and it's quick. Then I deburr with ceramic. Perfect edge? Nope. Shave with it? Nope. But good enough for my kitchen use.
(And I shave like my grandfather did - with a Remington electric. I've actually got one of his razors, I don't use it much because it has to be plugged in, but it still works well. My own is about 30 years old, I've only had to replace the batteries once.)
I like the tittle of this video. It's very descriptive and tells me what the video is about. "I Review the Tumbler Rolling Knife Sharpener"
I really love that I installed DeArrow xD if it weren't for it I would never have watched this video.
Your scientific and empirical method of evaluating results has great meaning to me.
On the other hand, I believe that to sharpen a steel knife (Fe + C + Etc.) a diamond tool (pure carbon abrasive) should not be used, as it is destined to lose its characteristics quite quickly in contact with the carbon of the blades.
And this regardless of how much the abrasive tool costs.
For me, diamond stones are very useful for dressing other stones, or for those carbon-free steels, but in the end only a few rare cases of diving knives would remain.
Specifically, I find this tool elegant and stylish, but destined to remain at the bottom of the kitchen drawer after the first unsuccessful attempts, as you clearly highlighted during the tests.
My uncle has a rolling knife sharpener from the 1960s. Works great. It's also set up as two wheels with the sharpener thing in the middle, totally not the same as that one.
Wish I had seen this before I bought mine!
For those of us who are total newbees at sharpening using an electronic one is really easy - this one also looks easy. The two you recommend look... well, not easy. Do you have a video on how to use either of the two easy ones you post a link to here?
first video i ever saw from you and i have to say thank you. i sdaw this pop up on the internet everywhere around the same time as you and thought hey what a fancy little thing. never bought it though but happy i didn't. your video is very informative, light format and in the end it shows again and again why for a bit more money originals are usually always better. thanks
I have one and can say your review is dead on, however I still like it for what I use it for. It is of little use if you are trying to sharpen a knife that has been seriously neglected. I am no expert and have a hard time holding a knife at a consistent angle when sharpening. I use the tumbler for that final finishing to keep my angle perfect and again after every couple months or after heavy use to keep my knife sharp. However, I agree the honing side is next to useless. I use a different honing and a good strop. If you let your knife get too dull, it will take a while to get it sharp again. Thanks for your review, I wish I'd seen it before I bought it because I probably wouldn't have. I was expecting it to do a good job on all knives and found you are correct; it takes forever on a very dull knife. If you use it to keep a knife sharp it does a good job but don't expect trying to bring an old, neglected knife back to life with it. It will take a while if you do.
Thanks. I've sharpened wood chisels ao know a little about it, including the burr. I've used honing guides there that keep the chisel at the angle you choose.
A person could use the honing rod that comes with most knife sets for stage 2, but that kind of defeats the purpose. I wanted a quick and easy knife sharpener, though I could use my stones for that. Consumer reports have tested the electric sharpeners and will probably go with one of those.
Have you tried the WorkSharp version? I got one as a gift. The sharpening block isn't a plain cylinder; it's comfortable to hold and I don't have to reposition my grip. The sharpener side is a magnet; it comes with three disks; coarse, fine(r), and ceramic. No idea if WS is going to make the disks in other grits. It worked pretty well, but I haven't used it as much as you have. The size and shape of the blade definitely makes a difference - if you're outside the zone, it's a pain in the backside. I do like it. No idea if it will maintain effectiveness.
Just checked their site. So far, just the three - 320, 600, ceramic. They sell replacement disks at about $15.
I've bought the Horl2 2 years ago and I love it.
The biggest noob can get a knife sharp in under 5 minutes. Yes whetstones will get a better finish but I just love the simplicity.
Before buying my Horl I had some doubts as well. Because of the aggressive Tumbler advertising. But discovered Horl to be the Original(?). And saw comments about the poor longevity of the the Tumbler, hence the cheaper price point. Plus seeing that there is a Horl version with replaceable discs, I felt that was the perfect choice.
It allows me to maintain my nice knives without having to learn how to effectively use a whetstone. I have yet to have any complaints, with the exception that a investing in a strop would definitely help get it that much sharper. But that's money spent another day. In the meantime its been fantastic on its own for my own personal cooking use and regular maintenance of my knives.
Thanks for this video. It was very helpful. Your last comment was spot on. If you want to spend a long time sharpening your blades then get the right kind of stones and learn freehand.
Awesome video! The thing that really got me about this design, though, is the fact you are running your hand along the plane of an upturned blade. I know most people aren't going to have a problem but it feels like a fundamental flaw in the design.
Thank you for this video. I truly learned A LOT off of just this one video. You explained a lot of cool info that other sharpening vidoes never took the time to explain the reasoning as to why or why not something actually works or not.
GREAT VIDEO 🏆
10:52 ... The tolerance for heat treating MANY tool and high-speed steels is Rockwell 2 (not 0.2 but TWO) .. So yes the "Tumbler" is not messing up the readings
I bought the Tumblr for $100 or thereabouts and I also bought the knock off for around $50 or thereabouts and both of them came from Amazon which is the only place I will buy something like this. I suspected that it wasn't everything that they claimed.. I am by no means an expert when it comes to sharpening knives, and I'm primarily interested in kitchen knives. Does it sharpen kitchen knives, yes it does but for that kind of money can you duplicate or get better results for a lot less money? My conclusion is you can do a lot better for a lot less money and so hence the reason that I bought from Amazon, because both of them were returned.
The Horl is the best sharpener i ever owned. Easy to handle, fast and always at hand in the kitchen.
I’ve been looking at these rolling sharpeners for several weeks. Would you be willing to give your opinion of this one? Arbenefe Rolling Knife Sharpener with 5 Replaceable Diamond and Ceramic Discs, 5-in-1 Knife Sharpener for Steel of any Hardness, Magnetic Base with Two Fixed Angles - 15°&20°. It’s from Amazon and has the same price point of the Tumbler. I like that it has replaceable disks and uses several different grinds of ceramic for honing. The course grind of the diamond disk is also close to what you were recommending. My budget is limited or I would invest in the Horl. Thank you for a very informative video. I’m glad I saw it before investing in the Tumbler.
Buy yourself a brick instead, in my opinion
Try the Hone sharpener made in Canada. Similar design but has 400 grit side and 1000 grit side. The magnetic block has a 20 and 15 degree option plus a special notch on both sides for smaller knives. I finish it with a couple of passes on a very fine diamond steel. Had one for a year and it still works beautifully.
Am I correct that your general approach for sharpening dull knives is a 400 grit diamond stone followed by stropping with a high quality 6 micron paste? I’ve seen produce scary sharp edges with great edge retention using that method. Seems like a more efficient process which produces a superior sharpness and longer lasting edge.
That 2x4 experiment with cheap knives you did was pretty jaw dropping!
I bought HORL 2 and I use with my Wushtof and KAI knives. I am not a professional but so far I find it really helpful. I am not able to find the right angle with the KAI stone. Actually if I am not wrong with HORL you can buy different coarse
I have my Horl since a few year now. And i sharpend a lot of knifes. i did not notice a large fall off the performance. It´s not the fastest process but it´s easy. even my old dad is able to sharpen his knifes with it.
Thanks for saving me money. Removed that thing from my online cart.