# Sharpening Scissors



## LKH9 (Aug 23, 2014)

I just sharpened this old cheap carbon scissors. It has a hollow ground on the back, very similar to Japanese single bevel knives, it's from Taiwan, a country with a lot of Japanese influence. 

The bevel angle was too steep for any proper sharpening, so, I thinned out the whole bevel on coarse silicon carbide stone, previous users didn't thin the blade at all when sharpening on grinding machines and didn't do any 'uraoshi'. No one knows how to do that at all, just mindlessly grinding on machine. Now it's very sharp.

















Does anyone of you use scissors and sharpen them?


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## WingKKF (Aug 24, 2014)

I repair my own scissor blades especially those messed up kitchen shears when someone tries to use them to cut chicken bones with. I personally would not thin out the bevel on a pair of scissors as this will seriously weaken the edge. Scissor do not generally work by cutting into the material, it works by shearing. You do not need a low bevel angle as you do a knife. Also keep in mind that the blade face is curved so your uraoshi has to be along the length of the blade or only the tips will get deburred.

I wished I had carbon steel scissors. As with knives, stainless steel generally leaves something to be desired when it comes to performance.


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## gic (Aug 24, 2014)

I've heard one can sharpen scissors by simply cutting a graduated series of sandpaper. Is this true, if so it sure is easy :- )


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## LKH9 (Aug 24, 2014)

gic said:


> I've heard one can sharpen scissors by simply cutting a graduated series of sandpaper. Is this true, if so it sure is easy :- )



A few years ago, I experimented with aluminium foil cutting, it did improve the the edge, my colleagues did notice that scissors cutting improvement when they used it, they even asked how did I sharpen it. But now, why use that when there are superior methods with KNIFE sharpening stones and aluminium-oxide paste.:knife:

@WingKKF, yes, I do notice the curved tip, the uraoshi has to be done carefully when near the tip. I must thin this blade, the first picture was the first sharpening attempt, it just can't get as sharp as I want. This scissors is for push-cutting through paper and plastic bags, so it has to be this sharp. It's like delicate slicers vs. heavy cleavers in the kitchen. 

Hey, carbon steel kitchen knives are non-existent here in Malaysia, but carbon steel scissors are widely available! 1.5USD each from China, but very sharp out of the box.


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## osakajoe (Aug 24, 2014)

You do not sharpen scissors the same way you do knives. As they said above thinning them weakens them. You have to remove the pin and sharpen each blade individually. 

I'm still fairly new to sharpening scissors but you usually keep that steep angle. And you don't sharpen the back side. Just a buff to remove some bur. but once you put then back together a quick cut to here the are actually crossing properly will de burr the blades.


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## Mrmnms (Aug 24, 2014)

I do canvas shears for a boat maker and various kitchen shears. I've done some barbers shears by request, although I felt I was poorly equipped to do them . I raise the smallest possible burr on the bevel side and just deburr on the back. I never mess with the geometry.


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## WingKKF (Aug 25, 2014)

Yeah it's much nicer to sharpen scissors when you can separate the blades. The cheapy scissors, though, are usually riveted together. Doable but a bit more of a pain in the ass. The worst is when the cheap scissor is made of springy stainless and warps and you can't bend it back. or adjust the tension. That's when you take advantage of Fiskars warranty and send it back to them for replacement (I didn't bother though).


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## LKH9 (Aug 25, 2014)

As I said, this scissors needs that thinning really seriously. It has been used for more than 10 years, sharpened on grinding machines for countless of times, ground until the bevel become like this, it's un-sharpenable without thinning it down. It was used for push-cutting fabrics for ages, now retired to cutting paper and plastic bags. You don't close the blades to cut, you push it through the material you're cutting, different needs here.

And, not all scissors can be taken apart. What I do with this is to grind near the edge of my table so that the other blade points downwards out of the table edge.

Japanese scissors are razor sharp(any Japanese blades anyway), you can't achieve that without getting an acute angle. The first attempt sharpening, I gave it back to my colleague who has been using this blade for cutting fabrics, she knows if the scissors is sharp or not. She wasn't satisfied, so I thin the bevel down and put on a more acute angle, now it can glide through thin newspapers like butter at any parts of the blade. I do find scissors very similar to Japanese knives. We won't use these fine scissors to cut hard materials.

Close up view of the new edge. Just saying that freehand does way better than grinding machines.


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## LKH9 (Aug 27, 2014)

Sharpened another stainless scissors, this is how I do it, no need to take apart the blades. It's getting fun to sharpen scissors, just not barber's shears, that's too delicate for freehand sharpening.







The black stuff on the cardboard is aluminium oxide strop.


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## WingKKF (Aug 28, 2014)

I think it's quite possible to sharpen barber's shears by hand. You just have to do it delicately. How do you think they did it in the old days before the machines?


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## Kokain (Apr 21, 2016)

So I came here from google search and I just registered to say LKH9 you are a star. I've sharpened knives plenty of time but I just couldn't get these wilkinson sheffield stainless scissors to cut no matter what. I tried different sand paper, different angles, absolutely nothing worked. I pretty much gave up and knew it's going to be buy new every time I want sharp. But I found this guide when I was doing one final search before trashing them and after a quick google search what single bevel means, knowing exactly what you meant about steep angle and trying to get it narrower, 10min on the bench grinder + 120 grit sand paper....these are our best scissors in the drawer now. They cut through that see through kitchen film so fine I could make little shapes if I wanted to. I had to remove quiet a lot of metal to thin it down as you can see, and only had to be done on the top cutting blade. Oiled them a bit before assembly for smoother action and voila


http://i.imgur.com/DM1BKs2.jpg

Anyway, nice forum I might stick around here if I need help with other stuff. Just came to say this topic was the info I needed to save a good stainless steel from the trash.


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