Work Sharp Rolling Knife Sharpener A Smooth Operator

The dynamic system offers a host of advantages to knife sharpening.

Where do you need a sharpener most? Chew on it a bit. Unless you’re a professional wood carver or mending fishing nets is part of your gig, most of us dull our knives puttering around the kitchen. Be it chicken bones or pepper skins, the sheer amount of time a majority of us spend on culinary pursuits our food prep knocks the edge off our most utilized knives.

Recently expanding its kitchen sharpening collection, Work Sharp cobbled together an intriguing system to keep galley cutlery at its best.Dubbed the Rolling Knife Sharpener, the manually operated sharpener is designed to take the guesswork out of applying an edge to whatever kitchen knife requires honing—and likely more.

Rolling Knife Sharpener System

The Rolling Knife Sharpener system has two main components, a magnetic angle block and a rolling sharpener. As it suggests, the block has preset angles for the most common edges found— 15, 17,20, and 25 degrees—making it function on everything from common stainless steel to the acute edges found on Japanese chef’s knives. The roller holds the rotating 2.5-inch abrasive heads, with three grit sizes shipped along with the unit—a course 320 diamond grit, a find 600 diamond grit, and a ceramic polishing head. To use the system, the knife is attached to correct angle is found in the block, then the abrasive head is placed on the edge, from there it’s simply a matter of rolling the sharpener forward while maintaining contact with the knife.

Straightforward as it may sound, it’s a rather ingenious procedure. First off, given the sharpening surface is dynamic it ensures constant contact with the edge, always at the proper angle. Those who prefer the long and swooping bellies of traditional chef’s knives know, maintaining both facets proves tricky on each stroke. However, there’s another subtle feature at play in the Rolling Knife Sharpener—the entire length of the edge is honed with a fresh abrasive surface. Outside of Work Sharp’s belt-based sharpening system, there are few sharpeners that have this ability, which makes sharpening quicker and more precise, as well as extends the life of the abrasive itself. Pretty slick.

Final Cut

Honestly, sharpener seems like a whizz for most kitchen implements and other medium and large blades. Additionally, might be just what the doctor ordered for a more exotic blade style. Potentially, kukri owners might find it a godsend. But the Rolling Knife Sharpener does seem have its limitations.

Given its size, the unit is going to live in your kitchen or workshop—it’s certainly not designed for the field and needs a uniform surface to do its job properly. Furthermore, it could prove a bit tricky to get the most out of it with your smaller blades. Could it touch up a spey blade on a pocketknife? Absolutely. But it might be a bit awkward.

At present, Work Sharp has the Rolling Knife Sharpener listed at $149.95 on its website, which puts it toward to tonier end of its catalog. For folks who always want to keep their edge—in the kitchen and out—that might prove a small price.

For more information, please visit worksharptools.com.

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