Beckbuilt
@beckbilt
active 12 months agoForum Replies Created
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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.
Shawn, I wanted to chime in here because I am a shear sharpener. I bought a scissor adapter for another sharpener and the WE is really no different. I am optimistic on a lot of things sharpening and this idea is one I feel can only be adopted if you want mediocre results. I can sharpen a bevel edge scissor on my knife sharpener. It’s easy and any bevel would be. They turn out great. I bought one prior to starting business. The thing to consider here is the angles are flat not convexed. People talk about a convex edge in knives as having one or multiple angles outside of the finished angle, but in a convex scissor remember there is no straight bevel, but one curve. They are talking about adding micro-bevels and get closer to final apex. Microbevels on a convex shear are bad. The apex on a scissor is where those two edges meet in space along the line of the two blades coming together. That’s not such an issue for knives. If your apex is left or right of center not a big deal it can still be wicked sharp. The blade can be bent, and knife will still cut. Not in a straight line but it will cut. Consider the scissor has to be two blades in a line. I own a machine that costs thousands to do what you are asking. A convexing jig requires a rotational component to turn the scissor blade around a radial point to form that convex outside. My clamp jig holds each blade and once I have the angle set on the minimum rotational angle or what is the blade angle for the scissor I then rotate my wrist to follow that convex edge over to that stop I just set. IF I hold it there for any fraction too long bevels begin to form not good. For reference that last pic is what we are speaking of. Any stylist would consider that shear destroyed. It might be fixed by rolling back the beginning of the new convex edge to the leading-edge side of the bevel and rework it. I know a guy who fixed one like you have. Most won’t bother because the amount of metal removal required makes this shears blades so short the ability of the shear to cut might be compromised by lack of steel remaining for integrity. Essentially, I start off doing test scratches until I get the angle high enough to scratch right at the very edge of the blade. Too steep of an angle starting out to begin with and you destroy that beautiful beginning thin edge at worst ruining it (like yours) and never cutting with it and at best killed years of use from a good scissor. I get the idea of multiple small straight line passes at different angles to sharpen the blade, but the WE is first and foremost a knife sharpener. Used to create bevels of varying angles that meet at an apex. I can have a scissor torn apart sharpened, lubed and back together in under 15 minutes. If you did the technique as described above on a convex scissor blade you would have to set the angle, sharpen, change jig angle finite amount resharpen, over and over. I’m thinking hours of work. All the while hoping you never create a bevel on the leading front edge. The exact thing a WE is designed to do very easily!!!The other option rotate the jig in one hand and try and apply motion with the stone in the other which also defeats the main advantage of the WE (Freeing your hands up so run stones) The main advantage to a shear sharpening machine is clamping the blade and having the jig to hold the radius constraints for you. I am sharpening free hand with rotational limits on a flat abrasive disk. WE is a jig fixture designed to maintain the same bevel or angle. It’s what makes it work so well for knives, but don’t try that with a convex edge scissor. Convex scissors are so finite in their convex angle I literally have sharpened a blade that 1 degree more or less from ideal can be the difference between that scissor cutting like they should, or a stylist coming back to me and say redo it because it’s not cutting at all. Use the correct tool for the correct job. Shawn there are jigs out there, but they typically are the focal point of a machine made for doing exactly what you want. If you are looking for a project to fix that blade mount it like TC stated. Work from the front cutting edge and roll back till you reprofile that edge to look like the others. Obviously make sure the other blade is the same. I can’t imagine doing that myself on my WE, but if I had a few hours where I wanted to try I might attempt on one of my shears I use for demonstration.
