I have used the same wooden one with handles for almost 40 yrs. I love the handles...so I think it is what you are used to. I use mine primarily for pie crust rolling. c

I have a rolling pin collection, but usually end up using the same one most of the time--one I have had for probably 40 years--a maple one with handles. However, I also have a small red silicone one (bought for my grandsons but to be left at our house for when they bake with me) and have recently been using it for pie crusts instead of my old trusty one. Works great! (I have never bought one of the large silicone ones because they are too expensive to justify considering how many rolling pins I have.) While I do have one of the tapered ones without handles, I really do not care for it.

I have two and I'm not in love with either. Oxo nonstick dark charcoal one sticks, and the wooden one I have also sticks, but probably less. I have those thickness rubber bands that you use to ensure even 1/4" or whatever thickness of your crust, and if you use those, I'd recommend the widest pin that is useful. I find it can be hard to get uniform thickness with those rubber bands as the dough wants to be wider, especially for a 10" pie crust or whatever.

I've had a marble one (with wooden handles) for 20+ years that I LOVE. Great heavy weight. I use it for pie crust and cookies primarily.

Thought I had to have the tapered one and got it for Christmas last year. Tried it one time and it went back into the cabinet, never to be seen again.

FWIW,
Amy

I have two. A French tapered wooden pin and a housewife-special wooden with handles. The French is recent and took some time getting used to, but now I love it. I find it easier to get consistent dough thickness.

I have had three--

One was wooden with handles that rolled on ball bearings. It worked well for about twenty years, and then there was some rusting and a handle fell out.

One was my grandmother's, wooden with fixed handles (not turned out of the same wood but with handles attached separately) goodness knows how many years old. I would still be using that except somewhere along the line it had picked up gouge, and then one of the handles split so it wasn't comfortable to hold anymore.

I decided I wanted to be done with handle issues, and bought a French tapered pin. I REALLY love the extra length and easy control. I think my kids are having a tough time learning to roll well with it, but otherwise I have no complaints.

I have a marble one with handles that I have been using for twenty years. Works great for pie crusts and cookies. In the last few years, I started making tortillas and pitas. The marble is too heavy for those, so my dad made me a long tapered French rolling pin. Works very well for tortillas!

I've used a lot different ones, including wine bottles. I really like my ball bearing one. It's some kind of fancy plastic, textured so the flour clings and the dough doesn't. It's the best for soft doughs. For stiff dough, I have a wood cylinder. I like that it's very even. I prefer it to tapered wood. I've used, but don't own, a tapered marble one, which was fantastic. I've seen a lot of them that seem more for show than use--they're pretty, but heavily pitted and tapered all through the body, instead of mostly at the ends. The weight is great for stiff dough, but the continuous taper makes it much harder to get an even thickness, and I just don't want to spend that much time learning to use a rolling pin that's wonky. :) If I ever find a marble rolling pin like my friend's, smooth and properly shaped, I'm buying it no matter the price.

My specialty was pie baking for over 40 years. I'm a diehard Cook's Illustrated fan...read the reviews...tried to switch but this old lady just would rather fight than switch, I guess!

I loved my ball-bearing handled roller. I roll in such a way that I go really fast & light. I can't do that with a French type roller.

I guess it's whatever you are accustomed to. I would only use wood for myself.

i bake. a LOT. i own one rolling pin (which many have attempted to steal many times). it's a long, tapered wooden stick that looks almost like a baseball bat. no silly handles.

I'm not a big baker. I've had rolling pins with handles and never really was "good" at it. always felt awkward at it.

last fall I saw one of those long tapered rolling pins (at "france" in EPCOT) and bought it on a whim. it's wooden.

It is ridiculously easier for me. I love it. makes rolling out cookies so much easier. helps with pizza dough... it just feels better to me.

but then again, I never was able to get the hand of the handled roller.

I have 2: my mom's maple with ball-bearing handles (not tapered) and my MIL's which is wooden (maple, I think) tapered with handles carved in the ends (one piece of wood, pin and handles). I mostly use my mom's. I'm more comfortable with it since that's the one I grew up using. I do occasionally use MIL's for flat dumplings and rolled biscuits.

I have a maple rolling pin with handles that travel on ball bearings. It was my mothers, who used it for years, and I've had it for 15 or so. I love it. I learned on it, and found it easy to learn on, and easy for kids to learn with it.

It is similar to one made by Vic Firth in Maine not too far from where I live. The Vic Firth ones are beautiful!

Here is a link that might be useful: Ball Bearing rolling pin

I have a wooden cylinder, very similar to my Mum's which I learned on (and she is still using). Mine is made from sycamore wood out of a tree that fell in my Aunt's backyard, and was turned by my Dad. It has dents in one end where I stupidly used it to hammer the end of a teaspoon into some hardened buttermilk powder. But it still works great. I do sometimes wish it was a bit longer - it's about 14".

Mom's maple rolling pin with ball-bearing handles. Can't be beat. I also have a marble rolling pin, but it doesn't compare.

I have 2 and I love them for different reasons. One is straight, about 1.5" in diameter. It could possibly be bigger, it's packed away at the moment. I use it for rolling out pizza dough.

The second is the french style with tapered ends. I use this one more often, usually on pie crusts, cookie dough, tortillas. Any dough that I need more control over and where I need to roll the dough thin. The tapered ends makes it easier to maneuver. I can't remember where I bought it, it could have even been the grocery store, but it was fairly inexpensive, less than $15 like the ones listed above.

I've never used the ball bearing with handles style. My mom always had a straight bar style rolling pin, so it's what I learned on and what I feel comfortable with.

HTH

Kathe