Sharpeing pinking shears

[Herman Trivilino]

When my daughter-in-law was a cosmetology student she still had to pay well over $100 for her scissors.  And that was several years ago.

[Black Mamba]

I mentioned in a prior post that one should expect to pay ( retail ) from $250 to $600 for an excellent pair of forged salon scissors. Scissors made with the casting process can, and do, sell for considerably less. I'll occasionally drop into a local beauty supply chain store and I'll see low-end salon scissors selling from $30 - $35 on up. This stuff is pure junk....usually has very poor quality tensioning device pieces and the sharp edge ( if you can even get it that way ) will seemingly blow off in a strong wind. The bulk of what this chain will sell goes for $ 50 to $100 dollars. I wouldn't waste my money on the stuff but some folks don't have other options in their budget.

The high end of the market can, as we've seen, reach esoteric levels....can't really justify their cost, but, there's that old ego critter lurking around and he has a terrific bite.

Tom

[Ken S]

Very good posts, Tom and Herman.  My eyes are a little more open now. I had no idea they were so expensive; it makes my Lie-Nielsen chisels seem like a bargain!

When I think about it, it does seem more logical.  A good grade of steel precision machined and ground for a relatively small market.  No wonder they are expensive.

Thanks for the info.

Ken

[Herman Trivilino]

They work well and last for a very long time.  They represent an investment in the future.

Kind of like a good table saw.

[grepper]

I sharpened the pinkers. 

I painted up the faces of the teeth, matched the bevel and ground away.  It was interesting that not all of the teeth were exactly at the same angle or perfectly flat, so I just ground until all of the teeth were resurfaced from top to bottom. 

While I was a little hesitant to do so, but as per Jeff's instructions, I started at 220 grit. Glad I did too, because it took a little grinding to get all of the teeth to the same bevel and resurfaced.  If I see the same scissors again, I'll start at 1000 grit.

I put the other blade into the jig and found the bevel was a little different, so I had to reset the angle.

Then I finished with 1000 grit.

Had I known the each side had a different bevel angle, I would have finished one side to 1000 grit and then done the other.

Before sharpening, the scissors would not cut the full length of the blade cleanly, leaving the edges of cloth torn up but still connected at the base and near the tips.  Now they cut perfectly from base to tip.

Thanks for the instructions Jeff.  Worked great.  Just as you said, grind away and... Bob's your uncle!  Boom.  Done.

They were actually easier to sharpen than some other scissors.  Nice fat surface to work with, and because they are fat and heavy, less of that annoying vibration that can happen at obtuse angles on thinner blades.

So if anyone else was wondering, the Tormek works great for pinkers, and it's easy to do!

[Herman Trivilino]

Before sharpening, the scissors would not cut the full length of the blade cleanly, leaving the edges of cloth torn up but still connected at the base and near the tips.  Now they cut perfectly from base to tip.

When a tool's in that bad of a shape, it gives me confidence to go ahead and sharpen.  Even if I screw it up it's not much lost.

Glad it worked out for you, Mark.

I can only vaguely remember what pinking shears look like from when I was a kid.  Next time my wife drags me to a fabric store I'll look them over.

[grepper]

I had never used pinking shears in my life. I had to ask my wife why you would want to cut a zig-zag in fabric.  The answer is that it helps reduce fraying of the edge.  Huh.  Who knew?

But I know what scissors are supposed to do!  And now they do that.  Pinking or not, they cut cleanly and evenly.  Before I sharpened they did not.  Now, they do.

For me, tool restoration is very rewarding.  I respect good tools.

[Rob]

Agreed