When it comes to rolling knife sharpeners, the debate often centers around Horl 2 vs. Tumbler vs. Work Sharp — the three most popular brands on the market.
But which one is truly the best?
To find out, I put all three sharpeners through a series of controlled tests, measuring their effectiveness, ease of use, and safety.
The test results and data don’t lie. There’s a clear winner, a clear loser, and one that’s pretty good but has some flaws.
So, if you’re in the market for a rolling knife sharpener but aren’t sure which brand to buy, you’re about to get a definitive answer.
Key Takeaways
Here’s a quick summary of what you need to know about the Horl 2, Tumbler, and Work Sharp rolling knife sharpeners.
Overview: Horl 2 is the most expensive, and it’s made in Germany. Tumbler is the cheapest, and it’s made in China. Work Sharp is mid-priced and made in the USA.
Sharpening Performance: Based on my testing using a BESS Certified Sharpness Tester, Horl 2 performed best, followed by Tumbler, with Work Sharp performing poorly.
Magnet Strength: Based on my tests, Tumbler had the strongest magnet, followed by Work Sharp, with Horl 2 having the weakest (though still adequate) magnet.
Disc Options: Work Sharp offers the most versatility with three discs (320-grit, 600-grit, and fine ceramic). Horl 2 has changeable discs (420-grit diamond and 1000-grit ceramic), while Tumbler’s discs (500/800-grit diamond and stainless steel honing) are not removable.
Design and Usability: Horl 2 spins the smoothest, allowing for better control. Work Sharp’s design makes it difficult to maintain a straight path while sharpening.
Angle Options: Work Sharp offers the most angle options (15°, 17°, 20°, 25°), while Horl 2 and Tumbler both offer 15° and 20°.
Magnetic Angle Support: Horl 2 has the longest magnetic angle support at 4.5 inches, which allows you to get a better grip.
Bottom Line: The Horl 2 is the best rolling knife sharpener based on its superior sharpening performance, smooth rolling action, and versatile disc options. While it’s the most expensive, its consistently excellent results and user-friendly design justify the cost. Tumbler is a good budget option with solid sharpening performance and the strongest magnet. Despite its versatility, Work Sharp falls short in sharpening effectiveness and ease of use.
Read reviews and compare prices at the links below:
Use the links below to navigate the comparison:
Comparison Chart
| Tumbler | Horl 2 | Work Sharp | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Least Expensive (Amazon) | Most Expensive (Amazon) | In the Middle (Amazon) |
| Where It’s Made | China | Germany | Ashland, Oregon |
| Sharpening Discs | 500-grit diamond disc | 420-grit diamond disc | 320 and 600-grit diamond discs |
| Honing Discs | Helix honing steel | 1000-grit ceramic disc | Fine ceramic disc |
| How to Change Discs | Not removable | Screws on/off | Magnetic |
| Edge Angles | 15° and 20° | 15° and 20° | 15°, 17°, 20°, 25° |
| Weight (Roller) | 15.7 oz | 16.6 oz | 10.2 oz |
| Weight (magnetic angle support) | 4.0 oz | 3.7 oz | 6.7 oz |
| Magnetic Angle Support Length | 3.5 in | 4.5 in | 2.5 in |
| Disc Diameter | 2.1 in | 2.1 in | 2.25 in |
| Warranty | 1 Year | 1 Year | 3 Years |
| Sharpening Test Performance | 2nd | 1st | 3rd |
| Magnet Strength Test Performance | 1st | 3rd | 2nd |
| Pros | – Cheapest – Strongest magnet | – Best sharpening results – Smoothest spinning – Long magnetic angle support | – 4 angles – Larger discs – 3 discs |
| Cons | – Can’t change discs – Not smooth spinning | – Weakest magnet | – Difficult to push an pull straight – Worst results sharpening |
Tumbler
The Tumbler launched in 2022 and has quickly become the most popular rolling sharpener thanks to its viral sharpening videos like this. This sharpener is made in China and is the least expensive of the three.
The roller has a diamond disc on one side with a grit of D35, which equals a whetstone grit of 500-800. This disc is for grinding and sharpening the edge. It’s made of stainless steel with a diamond abrasive coating.
The other side has a metal honing disc to smooth the edge. Tumbler calls this the Helix Honing Disc. This disc does not have grit. Instead, it’s made of hardened stainless steel and designed to remove the burr on the sharpened edge.
Unlike the Horl 2 and Work Sharp sharpeners (more on these in a minute), which have removable discs, you can’t change or replace the Tumbler’s discs — they’re stuck on. Tumbler’s magnetic angle support has two sharpening angles: 15 and 20 degrees.
Those details are good to know, but the key question is: how well does the Tumbler work? Does it do a good job sharpening knives?
To get a fair comparison of all three sharpeners, I dulled six chef’s knives by sliding the edges 100 times across the side of a 1000-grit whetstone.
The six knives I chose for this test are made of the same German steel and have a Rockwell Hardness score of around 58.
| Knife Tested | Type of Steel | Rockwell Hardness | Sharpener Used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cangshan Helena | X50CrMoV15 | 58 | Tumbler |
| Wusthof Gourmet | X50CRMOV15 | 58 | Tumbler |
| Ninja Foodi Premium | X50CRMOV15 | 58 | Horl 2 |
| Wusthof Classic Ikon | X50CRMOV15 | 56 | Horl 2 |
| Made In | X50CrMoV15 | 58 | Work Sharp |
| Wusthof Classic | X50CRMOV15 | 58 | Work Sharp |
After dulling each blade equally, I measured their sharpness using a BESS Certified Sharpness Tester. The model I used is called the Edge-On-Up Industrial Edge Tester (PT501).
This tester comes with disposable wire clips that sit on top of a scale.
To get an accurate measurement, you slowly lower the knife onto the wire. When the knife breaks the wire, the scale gives you a number. That number tells you how many grams of pressure it took to cut the wire. The lower the number, the sharper the knife.
A score from 0 to 400 means the edge is sharp and in good shape. 400 to 800 means the edge could use some maintenance and anything above that means the edge is dull or damaged. For context, a butter knife is around 2000.
After dulling the knives, I picked two to sharpen with the Tumbler. First was the Cangshan Helena chef’s knife. After grinding it on the whetstone, it had an initial sharpness score of 1,127, which is in the “severely rolled edge” range.
I set it up on the Tumbler magnetic angle support using the 15-degree side and went to work on the edge. After precisely 100 passes on each side with the diamond disc and 10 passes with the honing metal, I measured its sharpness again. This time, it scored 726, which is still dull.
I sharpened it again, but this time, I made 200 passes on each side with the diamond disc and 20 with the honing metal. After that, it scored 515, a significant improvement but still in the “needs maintenance” range.
Next, I tested the Tumbler on the Wusthof Gourmet chef’s knife. This knife’s initial sharpness score was 1,331. After 100 passes with the Tumbler on each side using the diamond disc and 10 passes with the honing steel, it scored 840.
After 200 more passes on each side with the diamond disc and 20 with the honing steel, it scored 198. For context, utility razor blades are in the 100 to 200 range.
Overall, Tumbler did a great job with the Wusthof Gourmet knife and a subpar job with the Cangshan Helena knife. I’ll show you how these results compare to the other two sharpeners in a minute.
One thing that surprised me while testing the Tumbler was the strength of its magnet. Magnet strength is an important safety feature of rolling sharpeners because as you roll the disc across the blade, you don’t want the knife popping off the magnet or moving at all — you want it to hold the blade straight and sturdy.
This video from the popular knife-focused YouTube channel Neeves Knives compared the Tumbler to the Horl 2, and one of the main points was that the Tumbler’s magnet is much weaker than the Horl 2. But based on my tests, that’s not true at all.
First, I tested the magnet by using it to pick up a knife and wiggle it around. It held onto the knife tight as I moved it around.
Then, I tested it against the other sharpeners by attaching the Tumbler to one side and the other sharpeners to the other side. I pulled the magnets apart to see which one pulled the knife with it.
I tested it near the handle and the tip of the blade. In all of my tests, the Tumbler magnet pulled the knife with it, which proves it’s the strongest.
I tested it one last time by placing a paperclip between the magnets and slowly moving them closer together. Again, the Tumbler was the clear winner. In each test, the paperclip slid to the Tumbler magnet.
The two main downsides of the Tumber are that the discs are not removable, and it doesn’t spin as fast or freely as the Horl 2. It still rolls smoothly, but it feels a little stiffer and less agile. When you spin it with your hand, it stops after about 2 seconds. The Horl 2 keeps spinning for around 10 seconds.
Horl 2
The Horl 2 rolling knife sharpener is made in Germany. It’s the most expensive sharpener of the three.
Like the Tumbler, the magnetic angle support has a 15-degree angle on one side and a 20-degree angle on the other. However, the Horl 2’s angle support is a full inch longer (4.5 inches vs. 3.5 inches), so you have more to grab onto and can keep your off-hand further from the edge during sharpening.
The Horl 2 comes with a 420-grit diamond disc for sharpening and a 1000-grit ceramic honing disc for refining and finishing the edge.
But if you want an even smoother edge, Horl sells 3000- and 6000-grit discs separately. Unlike the Tumbler, the discs unscrew, so you can easily switch them in and out.
I conducted the same sharpening tests with the Horl 2 that I did with the Tumbler. However, I used two different knives: the Ninja Foodi Premium chef’s knife and the Wusthof Classic Ikon chef’s knife.
After dulling the Ninja knife on the side of the whetstone 100 times, it had a sharpness score of 1047.
Like I did with the Tumbler, I set up the knife on the 15-degree angle of the Horl 2.
After 100 passes on each side with the diamond disc and ten passes with the ceramic honing disc, it scored an impressive 248. That score means it’s already in the ideal range for high-end cutlery.
I measured again to make sure I did everything correctly with the sharpness tester, and it scored 259. I didn’t sharpen it further because the 250 to 260 range is ideal.
After dulling, the Wusthof Classic Ikon knife had an initial sharpness score of 1,178. After 100 passes on each side with the Horl 2 diamond disc, it only improved to 1,075. However, after another 200 passes on each side, it scored 269, which is ideal for a chef’s knife.
Besides more consistent sharpness scores, the Horl 2 has two advantages over the Tumbler. First, it spins much smoother. This gives you more control, especially when sharpening knives with thin blades that bend and require you to turn the roller as you move it back and forth.
Less importantly, it has a higher-end look. The logo on the roller and magnet is engraved in the wood instead of printed.
The main downside of the Horl 2 is that it has the weakest magnet of the three sharpeners. It lost the pull-apart test to both the Tumbler and the Work Sharp.
That said, it’s still a powerful magnet, and I haven’t noticed any issues with knives moving or detaching from it while I’m sharpening.
Work Sharp
The Work Sharp rolling sharpener is made in Ashland, Oregon, and it’s priced right between the Horl 2 and Tumbler.
Unlike the other two, which are cylinders with discs on both sides, the Work Sharp has the spinning disc on one side, two small wheels on the bottom, and a thinner area to grip on top.
I’m not a big fan of this design at all. Because the spinning disc and wheels are different sizes, the roller doesn’t glide straight. It drags back toward your hand.
So you have to pay close attention and actively keep it straight. It pulled off the blade several times during my testing, and I had to correct it quickly.
The Work Sharp disc spins a little smoother and more freely than the Tumbler, but it’s nowhere near as smooth as the Horl 2.
Another difference is that instead of two discs, the Work Sharp comes with three discs: a 320-grit diamond disc, a 600-grit diamond disc, and a fine ceramic disc. These discs are magnetic, so you can easily swap them out.
However, switching from the diamond disc to the honing disc is a bit quicker with the Tumbler and Horl 2 because you can just flip it to the other side.
Instead of 2 angles, this sharpener gives you four options: 15, 17, 20, and 25 degrees. Although the extra options are nice to have, the magnetic angle support is even smaller than the Tumbler. When using the 15 or 17-degree angles, you only have 2.5 inches to grab onto, so your hand is close to the blade’s edge.
The last difference is that the Work Sharp discs are larger. Tumbler and Horl 2 discs have a 2.1-inch diameter, but Work Sharp’s discs are 2.25 inches. A larger disc is important because it can reach the top of wider blades without having to prop the roller up on a second cutting board.
I sharpened Made In and Wusthof Classic chef’s knives using the Work Sharp rolling sharpener and was disappointed with the results. After dulling the Made In knife on the whetstone, its initial sharpness score was 1,266.
After 100 passes on each side using the 320-grit disc and the 15-degree angle, it improved slightly to 1048. After 200 more passes per side, it scored 812, which means the knife still needs more sharpening.
The Wusthof Classic’s initial sharpness score was 1,242. After 100 passes per side, it barely improved to 1226. After another 200 passes per side, it scored 813.
The table below shows the scores from all three sharpeners. As you can see, the Work Sharp performed the worst.
| Knife | Sharpener | Initial Score | 100 Passes Per Side | 300 Passes Per Side |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cangshan Helena | Tumbler | 1127 | 726 | 515 |
| Wusthof Gourmet | Tumbler | 1331 | 840 | 198 |
| Made In | Work Sharp | 1266 | 1048 | 812 |
| Wusthof Classic | Work Sharp | 1242 | 1226 | 813 |
| Ninja Foodi Premium | Horl 2 | 1047 | 248 | 259 |
| Wusthof Classic Ikon | Horl 2 | 1178 | 1075 | 269 |
Besides the poor sharpness scores, Work Sharp performed just okay in my magnet strength tests. It was stronger than the Horl 2 magnet in my pull-apart tests but weaker than the Tumbler.
Bottom Line: Which Rolling Knife Sharpener Is the Best?
So, after all that, which of these rolling knife sharpeners is the best, and which is the worst?
Based on my testing, Work Sharp is clearly the worst. Although I like that it comes with three discs and the discs have the largest diameter, it doesn’t have any other advantages.
It performed the worst in my sharpening tests, the magnet isn’t as strong as Tumbler’s, and the two small wheels on the bottom make it difficult to control how it rolls. This brand is known for producing high-quality professional-grade sharpeners, but their roller sharpener falls short.
So the title of the best rolling knife sharpener comes down to Tumbler and Horl 2.
These sharpeners are similar, but based on my testing and experience using both to sharpen several knives, Horl 2 is the clear winner.
The sharpening results are consistently excellent, it rolls much more smoothly, the magnetic angle support is longer, and you can change discs if you need a finer grit.
Although Tumbler’s magnet is stronger, both hold knives in place without any issue, so that’s not a major advantage.
Learn more and compare prices of all three sharpeners at the links below:
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