NEWS – The Tumbler Knife Sharpener is a can-shaped sharpener with a diamond disc surface on one end, and a stainless steel surface on the other end. The unit includes a 15° and 20° magnetic blade guide that holds the knife as you roll the ‘can’ along the knife edge. Only serrated-edge knives and scissors are not suited to the Tumbler sharpening method. And probably knives you know have a blade edge at some angle other than 15° or 20°. The Tumbler Knife Sharpener is currently priced at $98.00 on tumblerware.com where you can order and find more information about this knife sharpener.
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This product is a rip-off of the original which is Horl. Frustrating to see knock-off products like this getting reviews and promotion over the original authentic product.
Agreed, I went to the comments section to specifically note this. Glad to see it’s already here
Promoting knock offs discredits this site.
I wish I would have known this before I ordered one from Tumblr bc I would have rather supported Horl! Thank you tho.
I was just reporting a found item and wasn’t aware of the original. If patents were infringed I imagine there will be action taken.
If the originator didn’t patent the design, then the competition should cause improvement.
Julie is contacting Tumbler for a comment.
Would love to hear what Tumbler said in response. Please post when you hear!
So far it’s radio silence.
Any update Julie?
I haven’t heard anything at all.
Thanks Julie for your reply. I have a feeling that Horl doesn’t have any patents. Otherwise, Tumbler would not have invested in exactly the same product.
If you go to horl website, they have their patents posted there. So you can check it anytime. This is a pure Asian made clone they have slapped a brand on.
Where on the Horl website the patent is posted?
I dropped Horl a note, but I’ll bet they already know. I spotted this knockoff on YouTube.
I suggested that Horl might want to report it to YouTube.
??? Waiting…
Also waiting.
It appears that both the HORL and the Tumbler are based off of a design from 1949 which always patented and whose patent expired in 1966.
The way the Tumbler looks compared to the HORL, may be the claim of “knockoff”, but both appear to be using an expired patent.
Take a look: https://patents.google.com/patent/US2475110A/en
Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
YOU ARE 100% CORRECT! Both technically are knock offs of the original.
Horl has patents too though, based on specific designs and changes to the original design it appears.. I’m assuming their supplier is either selling their own or sold the design to another company, based on how they are an exact match.
That patent describes a completely different sharpening process — the patent is for a configuration of two wheels with teeth cut into the sharpening surfaces so that the two wheels can be mounted on spindles in a V-shape with overlapping sharpening surfaces at the bottom of the V. The knife is then drawn between the wheels. It sounds very similar in use to ceramic rod sharpeners.
The similarities are about as great as between the linked patent, these rolling sharpeners and a benchtop grinder. The commonality here is a round abrasive. The differences are the methods used to hold the blade & surfaces at a given angle and pass the abrasive over the blade.
Beyond the shape of the abrasive, though, they are not the same process.
After a few weeks of sitting in the drawer the tumbler is seized. Won’t roll anymore? They are sending me new one – hopefully this one is better made.
Curious about any further development on this: my original tumbler started periodically seizing up and would squeak and was difficult to use, they were good about sending me another which worked flawlessly for months. Went to use it today and it’s completely seized up and will barely turn at all. Wish there was a way to take apart to see if I could clean out the bearings?
Any update on the patent folks. I don’t think Horl has a patent on this.
folks, have a look at this … looks like someone came up with a design addressing the HORL and Tumbler gaps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lKsdMzmjY0
honesharp.com
honesharp.com
Most likely, their 20 year exclusivity limitation on their patent expired.