I like my wooden French style with tapered ends.

My rolling pin was a gift from my husband before we were married...in thanks for making him a pie using a whiskey bottle as a rolling pin. It's a plain wooden ballbearing rolling pin.
And if I tire of that I can fall back on my mother's rolling pin, which is similar but smaller.
I see no need for any other.

Linda, that's an item to treasure!

The only thing my sister wanted of my Mom's when she passed was her rolling pin. Ironically, my sister isn't a baker and always uses store-bought crusts ;) But her fondest memory was watching my mother rolling out dough for holiday pies. I took no issue with her wish. I got the old cookbooks with my Mom's handwritten notes in the margins.

Things like that really are priceless.

I inherited this type from one of my great aunts & it's about all I need:

I am very happy with my two solid wooden pins. On occasion, I have used someone's ball bearing rolling pin and felt loss of some control. I have a short and a long rolling pin and the short one is more useful in a constrained location or when rolling (rather than patting) pizza dough out from the center. Re small pins: perhaps some of you may remember a dcarch suggestion for rolling pizza with a small print roller. I now have one in the odd equipment drawer, but only used it once. Perhaps it would be useful for some little tarts if a thick edge were needed?

The large one (better for a more even pie crust, or speed) is an attractive craft faire item that I got second hand at a garage sale. Since I think that any rolling pin will do the job, I would suggest that a second hand store would be a good source.

Mine is long like the tapered French ones, but not tapered. Not entirely unlike a 21" or so piece of closet rod, but larger in diameter.

I have a few different ones, but just almost never use any but the one hard rock maple one that is pretty big. I bought it many years ago at a barn sale for $3.00. It is my very favorite.

Sue

My favorite is my mother's. '60's yellow plastic with red trim (melamine?), kind of textured, with ball bearings. It works so well! I have a black with white trim, 1990's version which is a little lighter and doesn't hold the flour on the surface as well and just isn't good enough for pastry. It's good for cookies, though, and rolled biscuits.

What I use most is a cutesy-poo Joseph Joseph one which is a straight, fat wood dowel and has rings you can put on to measure thickness. I'm guessing about 2.5" thick? The rings work fine for small amounts of dough, but there has to be room between the edge and the rings. I don't usually use them. There are also measuring marks on the rolling pin which can be handy. It works great for pie crust all on its own, as well as with the Perfect-A-Crust pie diameter rings. I really like the weight, heavy but not too heavy and it's only 14" so very maneuverable. It doesn't hold flour at all and I have to use a "sock" with it to roll something sticky.

I also have a little wood one, which is about an inch in diameter and a foot long. I think it was meant for pasta, but it's good for anything wee and fiddly. It holds flour really well.

For oversized stuff, I have a 20" metal (chrome?) fondant roller, which is another cylinder. It's easy to chill. Probably 2" in diameter. Does a good job but hard to put a sock on.

Like LindaC, I have an old ball bearing rolling pin that belonged to my Grandma, and it's my favorite.

Other than that I have one of those tapered french jobs which I don't like as I always seem to roll the dough unevenly, one of the big dowel type, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, a smaller ball bearing type, and a springerle pin which doesn't work worth a darn.

All are usable, except that springerle pin, but I still like Grandma's old rolling pin the best.

Annie

A rolling pin that you can put standard rolling pin rings at each end.

dcarch

That's the size mine is. LOL And those rings are great.

I have several but prefer the style that my mother used. She made the best pies and pie rust from scratch -- thin and flaky and flavorful. Hard maple ball-bearing rolling pin. I use the cotton stockinet sleeve on mine and I use a muslin/cotton duck cloth pastry cloth. Both of these get floured. Use AP flour salt, Cold butter/shortening and ice-cold water. Don't roll back and fouth, but always outward from the center, patching any breaks or edge un-evenness as you go along. I like a THIN Yankee type of pie crust. If you brush the top of the crust with milk, you'll enhance the pretty golden browning and flavor. Dark pigmented pie fillings such as cranberry and rhubarb-strawberry look fantastic with a no-cheat woven lattice crust --easy to do and the woven top gives more color and flavor and more surface area to carmelize a bit. Of course, the little bit of crimson berry juice spilling over a few areas of golden lattice crust has dynamite eye appeal. Can you smell that pie yet? I am a life long pie face.

I just can't roll evenly without those darn rings. I asked my oldest daughter to buy that for me last Christmas and I've really enjoyed it. I've made some great pie crusts this year.