Rev - had some time to think about this some more and examine the situation.
I think that either honing the outside edge or the
flat of the inside surface is okay.
Both are gradually grinding away the scissors so that they will have to be replaced at some future date in some future generation.
What is not good is trying to grind the inside edge as you say - that changes the manner in which the scissors work - they are no longer 2 knives swiping past each other to cut the material.
Here's my thoughts on grinding the outside edge or the flat inside surface:
- outside edge
Usual method of sharpening employed by professional sharpeners. Doing this can be very difficult for most home DIYers simply because trying to get the hone at the correct angle and holding it there is next to impossible without a mechanical guidance apparatus. Consequently, sharpening via this method should best be left to the professionals.
Also this method will sharpen out nicks in the blade by grinding the whole edge back past the nick. This of course shortens the life of the scissors even more than a normal sharpening. - inside surface - using a hone on the flat inside surface (NOT the inside edge) is very easy for home DIYers to accomplish - just lay the flat hone, flat on the surface and keep it flat against the surface. Note: this assumes that you are using a flat hone and not a grinding wheel arrangement. I prefer my DMT hones - the Double Sided DiaFold® Sharpener, Fine and Extra Fine.
This method will not work with nicks in the edge of the blade and so the first method would have to be used if that is a problem.
You are correct in that this method should ideally be used only for scissors that use a screw for the pivot pin and that ideally the screw should be removed prior to sharpening and then the whole inside surface can be honed, including the area of the pivot and the scissors put back together adjusting the tension on the screw.
However, I also use this method on the cheap (well relatively cheap) Fiskars scissors that we use for cutting threads and ripping seams - the small ones with about a 2" to 3" blade and extremely fine point. About half have the screw pivot and the rest have a rivet pivot. Given the choice between a professional sharpening that would cost more than replacing the scissors or just using this method, I opt to use this method even on the ones with a rivet pivot. At least I don't have to throw away the ones with a rivet pivot as often. I have been sharpening a few of them quite a few times.
Both methods work by grinding away some metal and hence will eventually grind away the scissor blades. Don't really know which will grind away too much of the scissors first. But I prefer to use the extra fine side of the DMT hone and 4 to 6 swipes with the hone is sufficient most of the time to restore the edge. At that rate, the scissors will outlast either my wife or myself. Better that than having to replace the scissors or pay even more to have them professionally sharpened.
As far as the original poster using that plastic sharpener from Fiskars - we have one or 2 of those and I have found them to be almost useless in restoring the sharp edge.
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