I've always struggled with sharpening scissors. Yesterday after struggling to shear one of our fluffy little yappy mutts I took a pair out to the shop and very lightly dresses it on 1x30 belt sander. Just a couple light passes and it was perfect. It now will slice through tissues paper hanging limp leaving a perfectly cut edge. The dog saw me come back with scissors in one hand and a gleam in my eye, and headed for points unknown...
Were you running?
Oh, sure. Try it with a second pair. Methinks you got lucky.
I wave mine over my 600 grit diamond plate a couple times and they love it. I need to get a 6 or 8" 1200 grit plate.
Diamonds are a boy's best friend, y'know.
P.S: Dull knives and shears (and rocks and clubs) work best on the noisiest of little yappers.
-- Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. -- Mahatma Gandhi
I've always used a file.
Wes
Use the belt backing as a strop but be mindful of direction you can turn the belt inside out and it can be loaded with rouge, ink the edges with a sharpie to see your progress when grinding. Most 1x30 belt grinders do not have enough clearance to take a leather stropping belt.
You may just be cutting with the burrs. A file, as Wes suggests, is a relatively fail-safe sharpening tool for scissors. Ya done good if they're better than they were.. but if it's just burrs, the sharpness will fade kinda quickly.
I've seen a lot of decent tools and knives fuctup by some who thought a belt sander would be effortless and a perfect solution.
A haircutter friend preferred me to sharpen her scissors.. and they were touched up frequently enough to only need stoned lightly. Good quality German specialty scissors.
Quality scissors are slightly hollow ground on the mating surfaces, and when treated well, the sharp edges hold up very well.
Talkin carbon steel here, not stainless.
If they're really dull, you can use the diamond hone. I don't let mine get that dull, usually just needs a pass or two from a hard Arkansas stone to get them back into shape. For the cutlery impared, you DON'T sharpen the wide, flat areas that rub together, the cutting parts are the narrow angled areas, "shears", you know. If you're new at the game, a magic marker will show where you've hit and where you've missed. Top-quality scissors have screws that allow some adjustment and also dismantling for sharpening, not rivets.
Stan
If a belt sander works really well, I am somewhat reluctant to ask how you were sharpening them previously.
Ummm,,, maybe look into making a mini-project of a Lanskey-style sharpening setup for your scissors. You grind the (steel or stainless) blades only with smooth ceramic stones. 30° is a fair guess, but the angle varies from 5° to 45° with different models of scissors-
Aluminum-blade scissors are resharpened by putting them in the trash can and buying a new pair. The faces (that are ground) and sides (that rub together) both wear down so fast it isn't worth the bother. Their price should reflect their disposable nature.
I sharpen the edge and stone/plate off the burr on the flat, don't you? Holding the edge flat on the plate is the trick.
True! I haven't dulled them yet, but I bought a set of tailor's shears, Touro Tesoura 12 INCHERS!, and they're fully adjustable. The $33 investment should last me a lifetime +.
-- Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. -- Mahatma Gandhi
rpening scissors. Yesterday after
Thanks for that link. Karl
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