Gingher Fabric Scissors

[kentonhines]

Hello! I work at a facility that currently sends out about 25,000 Gingher Fabric Scissors.  We are looking to do the work in house.  Is the Tormek T7 capable of this type and quantity of scissors? What type of skills are needed to do this type of work? How long would the stone last before replacing it with a new one? Wondering if anyone could help me out with this or if anyone currently uses this machine for a purpose similar to what I would be using it for.

[Jeff Farris]

No special skill is required to sharpen fabric scissors.  The jig does most of the work.  The grindstone has exceptional life.  In use 40 hours per week, in the sharpening of scissors I would expect the stone to last a year or more.

[kentonhines]

Thanks for the help! Any idea the time it might take to sharpen a pair of scissors once you are familiar.

[Jeff Farris]

Each blade will take 2 to 3 minutes if they are dull but not severely damaged.

Some Gingher models have different bevel angles on each blade.  This would require an adjustment of the support plate to change the angle.  If you would be doing several identical pairs at a time, you could batch them, doing all of the 45? angles, then make one support plate adjustment and do all of the 65? angles.

Even adjusting one pair at a time (if needed), I would budget about 7 minutes for examination, jig mounting, grinding and inspection.

[kentonhines]

We have been using the T-7 to sharpen our scissors now for about a month. It seems that the stone is wearing much faster than I thought. Is there a stone that might last longer have have the same results. I've looked a little bit and found some other stones that say they work for the tormek but wasnt sure what to do. Any help would be appreiciated.

[Jeff Farris]

The only stone on the market that might have better wear characteristics is our new SB-250 Silicon Blackstone.  However, it will not cut the carbon steel used in scissors as well as the standard SG-250 stone.  The Japanese waterstones will wear quickly and will not cut aggressively enough for commercial sharpening where scissors are often neglected before brought in.