Females

[sharpwoman]

Hi, I am new here, just got my new Tormek 7 this week, am trying hard to learn how to properly sharpen scissors, was wondering how many females are part of this Forum, and if there are alot of us females doing this for a business?

[Ken S]

Welcome, sharpwoman.  I just purchased the scissors jig (it arrived today).  SharpTools has a well done you tube on sharpening scissors.  I hope you get lots of helpful replies.  I would also benefit from good suggestions.  Scissors are indeed as much tools of the trade for cosmetologists and seamstresses/ tailors as chisels and planes are for woodworkers.  Having more female sharpeners on the forum would be interesting.

Best of luck in your new venture.

Ken

[Herman Trivilino]

Here's tghe link to the You Tube video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGFeBd8ZspM

By the way, my daughter-in-law is a professional hair dresser, and she won't let me touch her scissors to my Tormek.  When I look at them, they look like they'd be hard to sharpen.  The bevel is very narrow, and the scissors cost around 200 US dollars.

[robincbailey]

If they are your scissors then have a go, but for hairdressing scissors and if you are charging then it would have to be a dedicated machine like the 'Twice As Sharp' as the blades are so small and the amount to remove is very little, and you DO need to hone and polish if they are convex.

Larger scissors no problem at all.

[Ken S]

Sharpwoman, can it be that you are the only female on this forum?  (I would be surprised.)  Since none of the women are offering advice, I might chime in.

In thirty-five years with the telephone company, I noticed that the best technicians, both male and female, usually had either a mentor or access go good training.  Having both is ideal, as well as some internal drive.

I believe finding a good teacher, either one on one or in one of the several small schools available would speed your learning process.  Doing some online poking around, I have found several in different areas of the country.  If you could find a one or two day training class which specialized in your area of interest, that would seem ideal.

The classes I have found (in Cleveland and Texas) also sell equipment. I am sure there must be others. If attending a class was not possible, these people have also written books and perhaps videos.

Apprenticing with a sharpener could be a very good choice.

In my opinion, Tormek has done a very fine job of providing educational material for woodworking tools.  In comparison, the offerings for the various types of scissors/ shears seem lean.  Given the large number of scissors users, this seems odd to me.  It seems a fertile area for Tormek to expand its training offerings.  The SharpTools video mentioned elsewhere is very good, but could be expanded to include more specialty scissors.

Good luck in your endeavour.  Please keep us posted.

Ken