Here's a weird question: Who makes the best scissors?

I tried to sharpen sissors on the sharpmaker and they ended up duller than when I started. I must be doing something wrong. :confused:
 
When you sharpen scissors you want to match the angle that the manufacturer used on the cutting surface. This will generally not be 90 degrees, but a little less. It is likely not to match the preset angle on a sharpmaker. I find the angle by feel or by using some felt pen on the cutting surface and doing some trial and error to remove the ink evenly.

The critical thing that I learned is that you don't want too smooth a finish on the cutting surface. If you use too smooth a stone the material that you try and cut will slide out of the shear zone instead of being cut. I like to use a file or a medium grit diamond hone to get distinct striations on the cutting surface. I do a little touch up with a very fine stone to remove the edge burr and insure that no burr is in the shearing plane. I use the extra fine hone lightly on the shearing planes. Getting the right angle, honing all the way up to the shearing edge, and having an adequately rough sheering face are all critical for good scissor sharpening. It may help even more to get the right tension on the blades.
 
I have been using Wiltshire staysharp scissors to cut deerskin for many years and swear by them.They are inexpensive,come in a self sharpening case and have ambi handles which is an added bonus to us leftys.They also sharpen up real easy on a Sharpmaker if you follow Spydercos instructions.Trust me on this, I cut up over 2000 square feet of deerhide per year and use mine every day.
 
Jeff Clark said:
When you sharpen scissors you want to match the angle that the manufacturer used on the cutting surface. This will generally not be 90 degrees, but a little less. It is likely not to match the preset angle on a sharpmaker.
Click to expand...

I have an older Sharpmaker - and it has a special hole-slot at one end of the base to hold the triangle stone at a preset angle for sharpening scissors -
one merely has to be able to hold the scissors "blade" vertical and "hone" away.

Spyderco has this on their page on the current Sharpmaker -

QUOTE:
The stones fit into keyed holes and slots molded into the polymer base and have a 40 degree and 30 degree sharpening angle for knives and a 12 1/2 degree scissor setting.
UNQUOTE

I'm pretty sure there is an explanation on how to use this in the instructions that comes with the Sharpmaker.

--
Vincent

http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/
 
Another vote for Gingher if you need scissors for sewing.. They are "the" scissors for cutting fabric. I have a pair from when I worked in the costume shop in grad school for technical theater. You quickly learn to guard them as people will pick them up and try to cut leather, cardboard whatever. After that they are shot for fabric till properly sharpened. A fine silk or other thin fabric will have threads catch in any nick leaving a raged edge or incomplete cut which can then pull and pucker when open the scissors back up. Ginghers should only be used to cut fabric and pattern paper. If you need house-hold scissors for general use buy a pair of orange handle Fiskars or a scissor sold as a "craft" scissor. I also recomend the Gerber/Fiskars Powershears for shop and field use I have had a pair for years and cut things like rubber roofing membrane and heavy nylon webbing with them. I even used them to cut my son's cord during our home birth.
Patrick
 
My wife sews quite a bit and will only use Ginghers. Interestingly, although it is a German company, at least one of her Ginghers is stamped Italy.

They sure look nice; I'm not allowed to use them, of course.

- Rob M.
 
"touch my scissors and die" is my wife's motto.

IMHO, fiskars is "entry level".....


By the way, the other day she told me she was looking around the house for her scissors and soon realized she had over a dozen different types....which led to the almost inevitable conclusion...."now I'm starting to understand why you want more than one knife"...:eek:...!

I was in heaven!
 
SPHayes said:
Another vote for Gingher if you need scissors for sewing.. They are "the" scissors for cutting fabric. I have a pair from when I worked in the costume shop in grad school for technical theater. You quickly learn to guard them as people will pick them up and try to cut leather, cardboard whatever. After that they are shot for fabric till properly sharpened. A fine silk or other thin fabric will have threads catch in any nick leaving a raged edge or incomplete cut which can then pull and pucker when open the scissors back up. Ginghers should only be used to cut fabric and pattern paper. If you need house-hold scissors for general use buy a pair of orange handle Fiskars or a scissor sold as a "craft" scissor. I also recomend the Gerber/Fiskars Powershears for shop and field use I have had a pair for years and cut things like rubber roofing membrane and heavy nylon webbing with them. I even used them to cut my son's cord during our home birth.
Patrick
Click to expand...

Sort of but not quite. If you look on the Gingher webpage you'll see that they make more than just sewing scissors. They even make industrial models.
They do make quite a few fabric scissors and that is what they're known for but that's not all they do.

N2
 
SPHayes said:
Another vote for Gingher if you need scissors for sewing.. They are "the" scissors for cutting fabric. I have a pair from when I worked in the costume shop in grad school for technical theater. You quickly learn to guard them as people will pick them up and try to cut leather, cardboard whatever. After that they are shot for fabric till properly sharpened. A fine silk or other thin fabric will have threads catch in any nick leaving a raged edge or incomplete cut which can then pull and pucker when open the scissors back up. Ginghers should only be used to cut fabric and pattern paper. If you need house-hold scissors for general use buy a pair of orange handle Fiskars or a scissor sold as a "craft" scissor. I also recomend the Gerber/Fiskars Powershears for shop and field use I have had a pair for years and cut things like rubber roofing membrane and heavy nylon webbing with them. I even used them to cut my son's cord during our home birth.
Patrick
Click to expand...

Sort of but not quite. If you look on the Gingher webpage you'll see that they make more than just sewing scissors. They even make industrial models.
They do make quite a few fabric scissors and that is what they're known for but that's not all they do.

Now fiskars makes some great beater scissors. Get a 3 pack from costco and you're all set.
N2
 
You may want to check out the Japanese shears used for bonsai and ikebana.

Don't be put off by the term shears...there are many scissor-like tools designed tasks ranging from trimming off delicate buds to cutting branches or roots, and they are pretty particular about the cleaness of the cuts on old bonsai plants that can be worth hundred of $.

this site has a bunch--here's a link to one of pages with such tools.:
http://www.stonelantern.com/bonsaitoolsshears.html

from this:

T-109.jpg


to this:

T-37112-01.jpg


or this on the Masakuni shears page:

TM-502-01.jpg


Don't know how they'd fare on cloth, but I've been thinking about trying some for general use.

Prices range from $20-30 to about $200 for some of the ones made by Masakuni (!).


I had a pair of Fiskars that worked well for years, and still would, except one of the plastic rings on the handle broke--there was no metal in that part of the handle. I'm leery of the ones intended for heavier use for this reason.
 
My Henckels shears are great. I've had them a couple of years now and they cut cleanly through anything that you would expect them to. Good quality.
 
This depends a lot on what you want the scissors for, a bit like with knives !
;) It is no use buying a bread knife to use as a filleting knife.
So the traditional all metal scissors are made from Carbon steel, forged and nickel plated, or Chrome over Nickel plated, so not to be used in wet conditions. If you want to do tailoring work cut heavy weight fabrics this type is the best.
If you want a pair for around the house, then the lightweight (or plastic handle ) are the best option , with stainless steel blades.

Price often depends on how thick the steel is used on the blades, 1mm is fine for embroidery scissors, but it needs to be 2.0mm or more on dressmaking or Kitchen shears really.
Fiskars are OK, but the joint is a rivet, so I would look for one with a proper screw joint.
Kai from Japan make better quality dressmaking scissors with a smooth action, and you can get soft grip type handle, the pivot is strong, and they are about the best in my view.
Victorinox do nice scissors as well as you would expect from this top quality Company.
Mundial scissors are all so good value/ Quality with there red spot range for every day use.

For the all metal forged shears,Tailors type - Wiss & Mundial, are good.

There are a great many specialist scissors for different tasks, just as there are knives.
Left hand scissors of course are vital for left handed people.
The edge on scissors is not like a knife and most sharpeners will damage scissors blades, so best not to try and do this at home.
As a family we have made, and sold scissors and cutlery products for over 50 years.
Hope this help a bit !
best wishes
John
 
There was a Mr Ginger, and they bought raw material from a few places like Italy, Brazil and Germany, the raw material being the scissors Blanks, which is sort of part completed
They did the fine grinding etc on the edge, the Company was sold to Fiskars not too long back.
They carry a premium price , but are good quality.
 
I wonder if some enterprising knife maker on this forum would consider making a pair out of 52100 or O1. That would be interesting, may even open up a whole new line of products for us to obsess over!
 
Fiskars is a great pair of scissors. I worked at one of those mass merchant hardware stores many moons ago, and sometimes had to cut metal banding, but not often enough to keep heavier cutters for edc. I grabbed one of those orange plastic handled fiskars with an undulation at the crotch of the blades, not the straight ones, and they would cut metal pallet banding and not even notch the blade. I was truly amazed. They have a good feel to them in your hand as well.
 
I have 2 DuraSharp scissors in front of me, one says Stainless USA and the other says Finland. Both have been abused and sharpened and they work like a dream. I just used 2 different grit crock sticks and it worked well. I'm sure they are cheap or I wouldn't have them in my desk drawer.
 
Doesn't it depend WHAT you are using the scissors for?

My hairdresser buys Japanese scissors and swears by them,she does an excellent job with them too!

But I can't imagine these would be any good for kitchen chores or rough stuff.....
 
My henckels is 15 y/o and only has needed to be sharpened once.
 
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