Thread: Honing Shears / Scissors

My wife has asked me to hone the shears she uses for her sewing hobby. It is an 8" stainless Gingher straight (not serrated) or knife edge dressmaker's scissors, with single bevel on each blade.

I thought I would ask here first for advice on what hone I would need and be the easiest to use, as well as honing technique. Thanks!

Do they come apart at the pivot?

Either way, when you hone shears you only abrade the "outer" surface of the cutting edge. The line where the two blades meet should not be altered.

Which stone to use would depend how much wear they have. And depending on your/her tastes 1k could be as high as you need to go, 4k would be fine, but anything above that is going to be superfluous.

I think you need a special thing-a-ma-jig, Scissors /shear jig to hone scissors and shears.

You could just use a hone and your hands, but the results may not be quite up to par.



Scott

It just needed a touch up. I looked more closely, and only one blade was beveled - I gave it 5 light freehand passes on a DMT 1200, being careful to keep the bevel flat on the hone and that did the trick. Thanks.

I told her I can get it even sharper if she'd let me buy something called an escher...

If you have a small polishing stone, you can rub it on the blades rather than vice versa. Speeds up the process a bit.

The bevels on most scissors is wide enough that a steady hand is all you need. It's like honing a very small razor; the item itself sets the angle and you just have to keep the thing flat on the stone.

Oh, and you might do a few strokes on the other "blade" as well, whether it has a bevel or not, the corner needs to sharp and it may be slightly rounded from being used.

I do scissors on occasion and they're a specialist's job which means (in my book) you should try it! I do recommend you practice first on some less expensive scissors to get the hang of it. Take a good look at the space between the two halves of the scissor first to see if the pivot area needs honing (just a little!) and go lightly on the blades. Take a good look at how the scissors work i.e. whether the blades are sprung or straight. Hold up to the light and look through the two blades as you work them. Scissors are precision instruments but you can learn how to do it. I use a 4x2 blue belgian on mine. I hold the blades fixed and move the stone along them.

Glad to report that this was a success. I did the other side as well, as you suggested, Russell. I used a little devil barber hone I got from Tilly a while back, and it worked just fine. Five strokes on either side. Thanks for all the advice.