I saved my dull knives with a $20 sharpener style favored by Bobby Berk – it's easily my favorite kitchen buy of the year

I’ve had my kitchen knives since 2012 but recently, they wouldn’t even cut into tomatoes. I started looking online for a new set, until I remembered Bobby Berk using a magnetic rolling knife sharpener.

With many on sale for Cyber Monday, I decided to give one a go as it would be at least 50 percent cheaper to sharpen, rather than replace my knives.

The great news is, the $20 magnetic rolling knife sharpener from Amazon not only brought my knives back to life, it's so easy to use and now my favorite kitchen purchase of the year.

Why I'd put off sharpening knives before this

I grew up in a Persian household and our delicious Middle Eastern cuisine is very meat-heavy. We'd buy meat whole, on the bone, and carve up ourselves to remove all fat before batch cooking.

Before every session, my dad would use a long stainless steel rod sharpener, available on Amazon, which happens to be Gordon Ramsay's preferred sharpening method, and go back and forth on the knives. He’d easily spend 15 minutes sharpening the knives we need for our meat prepping.

My mom preferred an electric knife sharpener, like the currently discounted on Amazon Chef's Choice Edge electric sharpener favored by professional cook and Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten.

Despite growing up seeing this being done and now a very adept cook myself, I've honestly lacked the confidence to sharpen knives myself. Until now.

The magnetic rolling knife sharpener style looked so easy, and totally not scary, as demonstrated by interior designer and TV personality Bobby Berk on Instagram:

I wanted something small, quick, and easy to use and a magnetic roller has proven to be the magic key for me. I'm so glad I took a punt on it. Now, there's many listing on offer on Amazon and worth snapping.

Using my magnetic rolling knife sharpener

Mine has four magnetic sides with varying angles. You simply and carefully pop your knife, blade up, on the magnetic edge, then roll the cylindrical sharpener back and forwards. Start with the low grit, and then switch to the higher grit afterwards for refining the newly sharpened edge of your knife.

I learned in the instruction booklet that most knives are made in factories that use either a 20° or 15° angle. Using the wrong one might damage yours so if you can track down the information online for your particular set, align with that. Knowing this now, I would have gone for a simple two-sided magnetic rolling sharpener like this from Amazon instead.

Nonetheless, it only took me a minute or two per knife to restore its sharpness. I opted for the 20° because my knife is the Jamie Oliver Tefal Paring one available as a duo on Amazon, and Tefal's own knife care blog says to sharpen at 20°.

My verdict

My magnetic roller is very easy and small to store, doesn’t require electricity or anything really, including much elbow grease. That works well for me as I am in chronic pain with a connective tissue disorder and do not have much hand or wrist strength.

The form and function of the rolling knife sharpener I bought on Amazon is brilliantly fit for purpose. Rolling designs are based on the original and more pricey Horl rolling knife sharpener, which came to market in 1993.

I didn't have the big budget to splash on the original Horl, or the popular Tumbler sharpener used by Berk but I am OK with that.

I saved myself between $50 and $100 dollars by sharpening, not replacing my knives and would highly recommend this for anyone who hasn’t sharpened knives themselves before.

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