Wusthof Kitchen Shears

D

dondulah

Joined
Dec 24, 2009
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I have a pair of Wusthof Kitchen Shears. These are a great tool and cut through all types of things. I have had them a while and would like to sharpen them. My Wusthof kitchen set came with a honing steel and a pull through type sharpener with a wooden handle. I know enough from reading the forum that I should not be using the "pull through" type sharpeners to sharpen my kitchen knives for many reasons... So I am looking to buy some sharpening tools, I am leaning towards the Spyderco Sharpmaker.

I know the Sharpmaker can be used to sharpen serrated edges. However, the Wusthof Kitchen Shears have these very small, micro-serrations. I am not sure if the triangle edge on the Sharpmaker will work. The picture is below, you can kind of see them, but they are very very tiny serrations. Any thoughts on how I can sharpen these shears?
kitchen-shears.jpg


Thanks!
 
Those tiny serrations are made so that it WON'T need any sharpening. It would be extremely hard to sharpen those even with the triangle edge. Are they dull? Or do you just want to sharpen them?
 
I just see some small dings. We have used these pretty hard. I don't think I can even use the honing sheers on these correct?
 
dondulah said:
I just see some small dings. We have used these pretty hard. I don't think I can even use the honing sheers on these correct?
Click to expand...

Nope, and the common method of sharpenign serrations from the back won't work with scissors since the blades are made to meet and it shorten a aprt of that they won't.
 
dondula,

the Sharpmaker rods won't fit those tiny serrations. Best bet would be to leave the shears alone until the performance drop is unacceptable. At that point, you either replace them, sharpen off the serrations and use them as plain edge, or find someone with the equipment and know-how to duplicate the factory edge.

One approach I would try if they stop cutting is to plain edge sharpen one side only, leaving the serrations on the other side to grasp the work so it does not slip out as you cut it.

Bill
 
If you can tighten them you can sharpen the flat side with some fine sandpaper.
 
All,

Thanks, this is good advice. They are those "come-apart" type, that I can't tighten. However, I already sharpened the non serrated side. They are working much better. I think I have a long way to go before they are unacceptable but when I do, I guess I will shell out $20 for a new pair. Thanks for helping me make the adult female in the house happy!
 
chococrazy is right. The serrated side is not meant to be sharpened. Shears that have a serrated arm are designed that way so that the serrated arm holds the media being cut while the blade arm does the cutting.

This is the design most often used with nicer sewing scissors. I personally find this design a bit dubious for use in the kitchen. I have a similar pair of shears with my Forschner set. I ground the serrations off of the serrated arm and turned it into a second blade arm so I could actually use them as a skinner and for cutting soft flesh. They were to weak to cut through bone efficiently anyway... just had to buy a different pair with a heftier design for that.
 
You might want to try cutting very fine steel wool as this method sharpenes shears for me in the past.
 
rpttrsn said:
You might want to try cutting very fine steel wool as this method sharpenes shears for me in the past.
Click to expand...

Really? That is counter-intuitive. I'd think that would dull a pair of shears. Any idea what happens to make that method work?

Bill
 
This is a method that many old timers used in the past. You do want to use a very fine steel wool. It could be like aligning the edge with a steel for a knife. I have done it on kitchen sheers with a good result. If you have some old sheers around try cutting paper before you sharpen with the steel wool and you should see an improvement afterwards. Others have been surprised with the difference. Yours could be beyond any help this might make.
 
rpttrsn said:
You might want to try cutting very fine steel wool as this method sharpenes shears for me in the past.
Click to expand...

This method used a lot by seamstress to sharpen their needles lots of them make bobbins with steel wool centers when they put the needles into the bobbin it sharpens them.
I believe the reason why this works is that when the needle gets pushed in it conforms around the old edge, but tight so it shaves a small amount of metal off exposing fresh steel.
 
gpdawg said:
you can use the pull through hone,the forum frowns upon pull through carbide cutters.
Click to expand...

You'cant use a pull through hone on those. Hell calling those things hones in the first place is an insult they are SCRAPERS, and that is what they were made to do it.
Those are marketed to be "serration safe" when in reality they are wearing the shoulder off of each serration they pass to get to the edge inside. Likely using a pull through sharpener on one of these will likely chip the serration off or just not touch them, since for scissors you have to have a special type of pull through that either has 1 carbide or 2 awkwardly angled carbides. since these serrations are so small it would likely flatten them more or chip them off totally ruining the scissors as a whole.
DO NOT USE PULL THROUGH SHARPENERS ON ANYTHING.
 
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