Care & Feeding Of Your Scissors

Good scissors are one of life’s great joys.

Okay, so maybe only if you’re a fabric-aholic…

Picking up your favorite pair of fabric shears, the ones that cut fabric like butter, are beautifully balanced – should be a happy experience.

But with most tools, there comes a time when even the best pair of scissors will need a little maintenance.

There are lots of things you can do to keep your shears as sharp as possible, for as long as possible:

• Make sure you’re only using them for fabric – and train your family too!
• Don’t use your best shears to cut polar fleece, felt or vinyls.  They’re hard on scissors, so keep an extra pair of scissors around for “tough” fabrics.

When it does come time to sharpen your scissors, there are a few things you need to know.

• First of all – don’t let just anyone sharpen them!  Scissors require a very particular sharpening style and that means that the average knife sharpener is not going to do a good enough job.
• Ask your hairstylist or dog groomer where they get their shears sharpened.  Think your scissors are expensive?  Hair stylists can pay hundreds of dollars for one set of scissors.  They know the safe places for scissors.
• Be wary of scissor sharpening events at big craft stores.  There are no guarantees about the quality of the work.
• Check and see if your scissor manufacturer does sharpening.  Some of them offer their own sharpening services – you just mail your shears to them.

image: Stock.xchg