Scissor Sharpeners

[warbonnetguy]

i had some fiskars (hated them) and tossed them when they got dull. and bought a nice pair of ginghers (which i love) they need sharpening now, and i'm hesitant to send them away, but i heard you can send them back to gingher for a 5$ sharpening, not bad, and the manufactuer would surely do a good job, but that would leave me without for a few weeks.

of the 2 pieces that make up the sicissor, one thin side has ridges (kinda like a file) the other thin side is smooth like on reg sicissors. am i to assume i cannot remove anything from the side with the ridges? should i only touch-up the larger flat sides and leave the thin sides(the sides that normally get sharpened) alone?

[PuckerFactor]

Okay guys, I've been following this and am thoroughly confused as to which edges each of you are talking about. Here's a little diagram showing the way I have always understood was the proper way.
scissors.jpg

Right? Wrong?

Acer

[pedro]

i had some fiskars (hated them) and tossed them when they got dull. and bought a nice pair of ginghers (which i love) they need sharpening now, and i'm hesitant to send them away, but i heard you can send them back to gingher for a 5$ sharpening, not bad, and the manufactuer would surely do a good job, but that would leave me without for a few weeks.

of the 2 pieces that make up the sicissor, one thin side has ridges (kinda like a file) the other thin side is smooth like on reg sicissors. am i to assume i cannot remove anything from the side with the ridges? should i only touch-up the larger flat sides and leave the thin sides(the sides that normally get sharpened) alone?

I visited Gingher's site, and found that the sharpening fee is actually $7.50. They also sell a sharpening stone, and specify that on serrated/ straight edge scissors, only the straight edge should be sharpened. They also say that owners should consult their manuals (yeah, lots of guys actually read those things) which are available online. I could not, however, find any manuals on their site. You might have to contact them.

[pedro]

Okay guys, I've been following this and am thoroughly confused as to which edges each of you are talking about. Here's a little diagram showing the way I have always understood was the proper way.
scissors.jpg

Right? Wrong?

Acer

Right! Except for the "file" part. Use a stone or diamond hone.

[warbonnetguy]

i was under the impression that both those edges could be sharpened (except if serrated)and that the thin edge is the one that is most commonly sharpened.

[sparkie]

I sharpen my carving knives by hand, and my kitchen knives on a motorised unit, shears are hard because as state you only shrpen the parts that are the chisel edge ,(the diagram showing what to sharpen and not sharpen is correct). Those fiskars sharpeners may or may not hold th eangle right, but in a pinch are ok, but a real shop will do a better job. I open mine all the way and hold the angle by hand and go back and forth. You can use stones or take 400/600/1000 grit wettable paper put on piece of edgeless window pane glass and do 10 strokes on each grit. If you have real dull pair start with 150 for 5 strokes then 10 at 200 grit.

the blue technique (sharpie ink pen rubbed on metal) is time honored and is especially good for slow learners like me. A machinist told me that was for sissies, cause we need a crutch. He is entitled to his opinion i guess. Espcially when he has all those machines to work with.

Most sheers have an arc to them so rubbing them flat will throw them off. If they lay flat when taken apart with no arc to the blade then you could sharpen thet way. But with chisels I tried that on, it was always easier to get a nice edge if I sharpened the bevel not the flat, but that was my way and certainly it may be easier for another to do it the other way.

You can make a nice carving knife from old GOOD scissors, I made a small knife from a bandsaw blade, being stainless I could have made it to a fillet knife, but my skills are not that good to make a blade that long and perfect. All my knives to carve wood or roast beef are sharp enough to shave with. My crappy pocket knife is in constant need of honing, but the drop tip blade is by far the most useful and that is hand sharpened and stropped to shine

chris

[speedemon105]

I used to work at a vacuum/sewing machine shop, and we sharpened scissors there. It was a dedicated benchgrinder, with a grinding wheel on one side, and a hone on the other. The guide was built into the grinder's table and was fully adjustable for the angle of the scissors. You ONLY grind the one side of the edge as most people were saying, with light decently swift strokes as few times as needed to form a bur across the whole back side of the blade. You don't want to heat up the blade any more than necessary, if you had to take nicks out you wait a bit between passes. Once you form a bur on both blades, you close the scissors while holding the blades outward so they don't touch. Then while firmly squeezing the blades together, you open the scissors and evenly take the bur off. Last, you hone the edge of both blades. After a few practice scissors, it was really easy to make them dangerous sharp (you would be amazed how easily an 80 degree edge can cut you).

In the end, unless you have the above equipment, don't bother. Take it to someone to get it done. Take a cheaper pair first to see if they know what they are doing.