Stone progression in sharpening high end stylist's scissors.
- This topic has 4 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 05/15/2018 at 9:48 am by
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Alan as with any steel I start with the highest/finest grit stone that will allow me to create a scratch patern, that is, remove steel to flatten the surface with minimal or moderate effort. Then work finer from there.
What I believe you should be more concerned about is recognizing and matching the grind profile. Some scissors are convex ground as opposed to a flat straight edge which may be a challenge with the Wicked Edge. For really “high priced” scissors you may want to seek help from a scissor sharpening professional before starting to determine if you can apply the technique to your Wicked Edge.
Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)2 users thanked author for this post.
Hey there Alan, I like tossing my 2 cents in on these questions as I am a shear sharpener. I use a specific machine for doing scissors and have three primary disks set up. In my industry we use micron rating and there are conversion tables out there, so with that being said I started out using 60 30 & 15 micron disks or about 250 600 and 1200 grit. A 15 will leave a nice scratch pattern that can be buffed out with a 1 micron paste. I’m using a machine so its easier. I had a hard time using 60 microns because they were so aggressive and most of my clients take care of their tools and I found it usually wasnt needed. I changed them around now and then depending on work load and how dull they are. Currently I use 30, 15, 9 and finally a 1 micron paste buffing wheel. 9 will leave a polished edge to the naked eye. (1800 grit) I was using a 3k diamond plate for honing flat inside lines found it to be almost too aggressive for my tastes and I now use a water stone. Most sharpeners use something in the neighborhood of 5k. Like Marc said your scissor is either a beveled edge or convex one. Don’t try convexing on the WE if you value that scissor. I can direct you to a thread earlier about that. If you have a beveled edge go for it. As for “high end” that is kind of relative. Beveled edges can be found on what I consider lower end shears, but my mid level starts at $300. My high end begins at 600 and go up from there. $1200 and in some cases 1800 or more for a really nice scissor being used by professional salon stylists who work everyday with them and can afford it. Just like any profession great tools higher costs and more unique equipment is required to keep them at their best. Diamond plates are more aggressive than water stones with the scratches so keep that in mind as well. I would look for the water stones mounted on WE blanks if I were to try it.
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