Scissor Sharpening… how to rig your own

[Eamon Mc Gowan]

I can not answer in detail, but what your seeing in Josh’s set up is for corrugated scissors. They look just like serrations and are done on one blade only. When doing them the way Josh is turning them out, you move the file over 1/4 inch at a time. So you lap over the corrugation.
I’m a newbie to scissor world. So I’m very limited. I had scissors backing up. Josh and a couple guys on here talked about the Twice as Sharp system.

http://twiceassharp.com/twice-sharp-standard

I bought the Industrial unit and as usual I over bought. I could have very easily got away with the above? Not that there is that much price difference? I have to tell you, what WEPS is to knives TAS is to scissors! I now put out the sharpest scissors you have ever seen!!!
You can know nothing? They send you everything that you will need to start a small scissor sharping business. Period!
They get their name cause the owner said “with my system your scissors will be twice maybe four times as sharp as when they were new.
I can not speak highly enough about the system and the support!

[Leo Barr]

Eamon it certainly is a beast I trust that it will pay its way at the moment I do not get many asking for scissor sharpening although possible as a business I can see that with marketing it could offer more volume than knife sharpening once you get hairdressers shears to do I imagine you could go to their wholesalers to promote your service as well as cold calling.
I sent twiceassharp a mail to see if they do a version suited to european voltages 220-230 paving the way should I decide to look at that market.
Like you I tend to overbuy although often going for an entry level model often leads to regrets later and additional expense.

[Eamon Mc Gowan]

Leo, In the info that they supply to you they also add a list of industries to call on. I was amazed to see how many uses there are for scissors? It is so much more then hair stylist. With this system you knock out a pair of scissors in about three minutes.
I just took a quick look at their catalog and it did not say anything about 220? Although it did mention German and Canadian patents? And I have a American/English speaking catalog.
The reason I think I could have got away with the cheaper model is it turns out to be a real work hoarse and would have done the job. The motors are the same in all. The difference is in the wheels? The honing wheel on the standard leaves a more mirrored finish then mine, but mine is pretty darn shinny. Splitting hairs? I have been considering buying the wheel from the professional model when doing seamstress and back to industrial for the commercial guys.
Also the average price for sharping is $8-10 for 8″ scissors, not bad for three minutes!

[Josh]

This question maybe silly to some, but can someone explain the fundamental process during a scissors cut. The reason I ask is that I presumed that you have two sharp blades that meet at an apex to perform the cut, but I’ve noticed that one side can be sharp and the other side can be blunt, and it cuts just as well. So do both sides need to be sharp, or only one side…is this done for safety reasons? Also for fit and purpose some scissors are very specialized, like for instance hair/stylizing cutting scissors…..I understand there is a difference? So what are the basic principles and considerations of maintaining scissor edges?

What do you mean “blunt”? They will still cut if slightly blunt, just not nearly as well as of if both edges are truly apexed. If the inside edge (ie” ride line “) has ever been sharpened then whoever did it would have sharpened wrong and it won’t cut at all. On a much smaller level, this is what happens when a scissor blade gets blunt, it gets rounded somewhat and won’t cut as well.

[Josh]

This question maybe silly to some, but can someone explain the fundamental process during a scissors cut. The reason I ask is that I presumed that you have two sharp blades that meet at an apex to perform the cut, but I’ve noticed that one side can be sharp and the other side can be blunt, and it cuts just as well. So do both sides need to be sharp, or only one side…is this done for safety reasons? Also for fit and purpose some scissors are very specialized, like for instance hair/stylizing cutting scissors…..I understand there is a difference? So what are the basic principles and considerations of maintaining scissor edges?

I was hoping someone would answer your inquiry. I’m not going to be of any help either.

I think I observed in Curtis’ setup that there was no movement along the length of the scissor blade. RazorEdge has the ability to quickly move the paddle arm down the length of the scissor blade.

Is that correct?

Is that specifically for pinking shears?

For other scissors and shears, does either the paddle arm or the scissor blade need to be moved?

That is… on normal scissors, can you set them in the vise, set the angle and then sharpen that side of scissors without having to make further adjustments?

Or is the lateral/length-wise movement critical?

Wondering…. I’ve got a small stack of scissors & shears requests piling up.[/quote]

Lateral movement is not critical unless you are doing corrugated scissors. My settup would work great for normal scissors 🙂

[Dennis Gocong]

………

What do you mean “blunt”? They will still cut if slightly blunt, just not nearly as well as of if both edges are truly apexed. If the inside edge (ie” ride line “) has ever been sharpened then whoever did it would have sharpened wrong and it won’t cut at all. On a much smaller level, this is what happens when a scissor blade gets blunt, it gets rounded somewhat and won’t cut as well.

Hi, Gib

Let me see if I can describe what a “blunt” edge looks like on scissors. Take for example the poultry shears on a standard Wustoff or Henkel knife set, the edge of these heavy duty scissors are not as acute as say hair cutting scissors, it’s not necessarily a flat edge, and it is a little canted but for all intent and purposes it’s close to being a blunt edge (>45 degrees) and it does not help to oversharpen this edge. In fact from experience I don’t necessarily want to oversharpen that edge, since the flat back side seem to do all the cuting and it seems to work best when the two backside edges are kept as flat as possible when cutting into meat. bone, tendon, or any fibrous material. So when I talk about the “blunt” edge it’s really about flat back edge and the high angle front edge that I’m talking about. Hope that helps!?!?!

[Josh]

………

What do you mean “blunt”? They will still cut if slightly blunt, just not nearly as well as of if both edges are truly apexed. If the inside edge (ie” ride line “) has ever been sharpened then whoever did it would have sharpened wrong and it won’t cut at all. On a much smaller level, this is what happens when a scissor blade gets blunt, it gets rounded somewhat and won’t cut as well.

Hi, Gib

Let me see if I can describe what a “blunt” edge looks like on scissors. Take for example the poultry shears on a standard Wustoff or Henkel knife set, the edge of these heavy duty scissors are not as acute as say hair cutting scissors, it’s not necessarily a flat edge, and it is a little canted but for all intent and purposes it’s close to being a blunt edge (>45 degrees) and it does not help to oversharpen this edge. In fact from experience I don’t necessarily want to oversharpen that edge, since the flat back side seem to do all the cuting and it seems to work best when the two backside edges are kept as flat as possible when cutting into meat. bone, tendon, or any fibrous material. So when I talk about the “blunt” edge it’s really about flat back edge and the high angle front edge that I’m talking about. Hope that helps!?!?![/quote]

What you are describing is not ‘blunt’ but rather a steeper angle. Even edges that are extremely steep (i.e. 90 degrees) would need to be sharpened at some point to create that ‘apex’ of the edge so that the two edges can shear whatever they are cutting. An example of “blunt” would be when you take a knife or scissor edge and look at it under bright light and can see the rounding of the edge (i.e. light reflecting off of it). =) hope this helps

[Gib Curry]

Note: I used the Low angle Accessory because otherwise I couldn’t get the scissors to open all the way since the handle would bump into the WEPS base.

I have a stack of scissors people want sharpened. So, I set out to try something based on what I saw of pictures in this thread.

I wanted to make something less complicated — mostly because I don’t have the facilities to build something like the ones pictured.

So, this is what I came up with.

When I purchased, I received the original WEP and the “upgrade” so I ended up with a second vise and a set of the old pivot arms.

The new bar is just a piece of the same dimension square stock, holes drilled for mounting and then bent.

Not having the facilities (as I already mentioned) The materials were cheap; the labor the bulk of the expense. Actually, his hourly rate was certainly fair and he did give me a bit of a discount after he and I talked a long time.

I told him the creator was an avid outdoorsman. His eyes lit up. He’s an avid fisherman and part-time guide so we talked about what a WE could do for his fillet knives!! When I picked the piece up, he had already seen a bunch of the online videos and knew Clay’s name. (Thank$, Clay!! We can either split the discount or I can buy more product!!)

The included picture has four different scissors.

The bottom pair was my first try throw-aways. Before: Dull. After: Push cut along the whole length of blade.

Next up a pair of Henckels. Before: Dull. After: Never been sharper!! Actually a bit scary.

Next up are my Son’s favorite surgical scissors — the ones he’s carried throughout med school. They are really dull. And they are, I think, perfect for sharpening on this bar. They come apart!! (If not, the handle won’t open all the way because it hits the base. That’s why RazorEdge used the Low angle Accessory) I’ll let you know how they turn out.

The orange handled, “construction grade” bench scissors have a weird curve to them. I’m trying to figure out if they can be done on my little setup. For now, I’ll do some more blades that are straight and see how the owners feel about them.

This little bar has no nuance to it while scissor blades seem to. It was pretty easy finding the right setting for the paddle using the marker method. But, I didn’t put the angle cube on it to see what it said.

Once I found the right angle, it sharpened to the cutting edge along the whole blade but there were parts of the “outside” (non-cutting) bevel/edge that may have been only slightly touched. (There was a hint of marker there.) So, there’s some interesting minor twisting of the blade face/bevel. Haven’t figured it all out so will stop speculating.

What I know is that I just worked the angle to a burr, then proceeded through the grits up to the Fine ceramic. Used a Fine ceramic to slide flat along the back/flat of the blade to remove the burr.

Reassemble and WOW….

Like I said, no nuance. So, now, please help me understand scissor blades specifically and blades in general by showing my how and why this is limited for scissors.

I know it leaves some marker even though it’s hitting the cutting edge. That likely means that there is some reprofiling being done. It does sharpen to the edge.

I know on small scissors that won’t come apart, this won’t sharpen all the way to the pivot. The paddles plastic lip gets in the way.

I don’t know if it will do weird curved blades.

I’m certain it wouldn’t do most thinning shears and/or pinking shears.

What else?

Gotta run some errands. Thanks, in advance, for your thoughts and insights….

Attachments:

• ScissorAttachment.jpg

~~~~
For Now,

Gib

Φ

"Everyday edge for the bevel headed"

"Things work out best for those who make the best out of the way things work out."

[Josh]

Gib,

You did an excellent job on that! Wow, how cool… Much more sophisticated than my crude attempt lol.

Thinning and pinking shears are still sharpened basically the same way. The pinking shears are just at about a 85-95 degree angle to the edge I believe.

So Clay, something similar in the works? 🙂 I imagine you have to be somewhat secretive until the patent is done and the final model is completed huh? 🙂

[wickededge]

This is awesome Gib, thanks!

-Clay

[Donnie Allen]

Nice setup Gib. I might have missed it but what was the angle that you had the square stock bent to?

[Daniel maloon]

Thats cool. Nice and simple

[Gib Curry]

Nice setup Gib. I might have missed it but what was the angle that you had the square stock bent to?

I talked it through with the “metal crafter”. The point was to be able to reach the paddle to the blade. In looking at it it seemed a simple 45 degree angle would work well. And it seems to.

Also, in the future, if necessary, keeping it at 45 degrees might make someone’s angle calculation easier. Though with an angle cube that point is somewhat mute.

With more machining it may be possible for the arm to slide along the base and right around the corner up into scissor position?!!?

I think there are modifications that could be made to improve upon the idea but I’m not planning any.

I’ve got half a dozen pair of scissors around the house I’m looking forward to putting in the vice….

~~~~
For Now,

Gib

Φ

"Everyday edge for the bevel headed"

"Things work out best for those who make the best out of the way things work out."

[Lukas Pop]

Awesome Gib!

[Mark76]

Very nice work, Gib!

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[Author]

Posts