Bad Email Advice on Sharpening Scissors | Engels Coach Shop 

We've lost a lot skill over time and random information from "thought experiments" have taken over empirical evidence. It's no wonder crackpot ideas get thrown in as real science. I'm 70+ and I remember my mother/seamstress yelling at my father "never, ever use my sewing scissors" to cut out newspaper articles. This has been known this for 100 years at least. Seeing you fix those scissors so quickly was excellent!

I worked as a remodeling contractor and one day caught a fellow worker using my crosscut handsaw to trim the drywall out of a door opening. His defense was, "Cutting drywall actually sharpens a saw." I called him an idiot and kept my tools close after that...

I worked with a salesman and needed to cut something so he handed me his penknife, it was so sharp that you could shave with it. I asked him where he learned to sharpen knives, and he told me that he had worked at Hormel for a couple of years and the only thing that he learned there worth knowing was how to sharpen a knife .

Watching you cut sandpaper was painful. Thank you for reclaiming the edge, I would have lost sleep if you didn't :)

P T Barnum's favorite saying: "There's a sucker born every minute" sure fits!

My wife is a quilter, I maintain the cutting edge on her shears in the same manner you do and she is my happiest client.

In the end we got a good instruction on how to sharpen scissors. Thanks Dave for setting the record straight.

You're smart if you listen to only half of what you hear, and a genius if you know which half to listen to.

This was something I heard of in my youth and I discovered fairly early you can’t always believe everything you hear…even from your educators.

Another important thing about scissors is the tension of the blades. Tension is the overlap of the blades. You can have dead sharp blades, but if they aren't slightly overlapped, they won't cut. This can get mal-adjusted if someone tries to cut something too thick, and it flops over between the blades and spreads them open. Usually a little hand pressure on the work bench is enough to bring them back in,but care must be taken not to add too much or else the edges will clash and ruin them. One final note is that if scissors are sharpened far enough to get down onto the hollow ground portion, they will have to be taken apart and the lands of the pivots will need a little taken off of them so that the blades can once again be close enough to sheer past each other. This would be a much more advanced technique though probably not for the average homeowner. Sometimes scissors are inlaid with tool steel at the edges as well and once they get sharpened past that layer, they are junk anyways. Btw I fell for buying a set of those Gugenheim scissors, and while sharp I was not happy to find they were made in China when they deceivingly advertised they were German craftsman made. I'll stick to my Ginger's for now. A nice set of vintage Wiss inlaid shears are always a winner too. I have several small 10" vintage Wiss tinsnips that I sharpen like scissors razor sharp and they are a treat for cutting thick veg tan soling leather type stuff.

I was taught how to sharpen scissors by the engineer at the family textile mill in Scotland, when I used to help him during school and later university holidays. The mill used a lot of scissors and they were always sent to the engineer for sharpening. We always separated the blades to sharpen if they were not riveted. The worst job was sharpening pinking shears, which give a non-unravelling serrated cut. Each tooth on those had to be sharpened individually. I now use a 400 grit and finish with a 600 grit diamond files to sharpen our household scissors.

Thank you for another commonsense lesson in caring for our tools.

Finally someone has actually shown us the best way to sharpen scissors. Thanks!

I cut sandpaper all the time as a machinist. Any where from 240-1000 mesh. I can confirm that it does not! sharpen them. Most scissors/ shears are “hollow” ground and the cutting edges will just round over the edge.

Internet "experts". I have learned to ignore about 99 percent. The young, who already know everything, have to learn that the hard way...but it's OK if they learn...I guess. Love your channel.

Thank you for teaching me how to sharpen my sissors. My dad always kept our knives and sissors sharp but did not like teaching. He had no patience. If you did not get it the first time, then he was done.

This seems like something that was spread about a hundred years ago by some scissors manufacturer. I have heard people claim sharpening scissors by cutting sandpaper many times before, and always asked "how?" No good answer followed. One guy did try to demonstrate it to me, but he started out with a pair that had zero edge to them and had been used to strip copper wire or something. They wouldn't even cut cardboard. After cutting the sandpaper for a bit, it would just barely cut the cardboard, but it was a rough cut that hung up repeatedly. I told him he just mangled the edge enough to tear the cardboard instead of the round dull edge from before folding it. When I said "neither time were those scissors even close to being sharp."

Love the sound ur old shears make as it cuts then snips at end of the cut.

Thanks Dave - yet another "super new technique" blown out of the water. One thing I have found is that many new scissors have very poor hinges which allow the blades to part, sometimes it is possible to tighten the hinge, but sometimes it is so badly made that tightening doesn't work. [edit to add] - My late father spent the first few months after leaving school in the sword sharpening shop of Wilkinson's. He could sharpen the most dull blade in just a few minute, on larger blades he would slice a falling sheet of newspaper with no torn edge, just a clean cut.

This is so true. my grandfather was a tailor and never used his good scissors for paper and also taught his daughter to do this. Many of these stories about scissors can be found in many vlogs. My mother also taught me that these scissors should never be used for paper.

I try to tell my wife to not believe everything on the internet. If it seems too easy it probably doesn’t work. But people just want to believe. Thank you for a great demo. Now come on over here to Georgia and sharpen my 15 + pairs of scissors I have. Lol

I heard a similar rumor years ago. Instead of sandpaper, it was aluminum foil.

When I don't have sandpaper to cut for sharpening my scissors, I like to take them to a gravel road, hold them blades and points up, then run up an down the road as fast as I can. When you fall and skid across the gravel, the blades become very sharp. I learned this from the internet!

My guess is the Sandpaper Guy is Running for OFFICE!! Thanks D & D!!!

Thank you for this video. I have some scissors that need sharpening, and I will give it a go.

I'm familiar with several RU-vidrs that intentionally give bad advice; I guess as a joke. One gives the most insane advice on how to refurbish motorcycles. I'm sure it gets the novice in a lot of trouble. These people don't deserve the air they breathe.

Dave this tip is for people that have no clue how sharp sharp is. So they have the dullest, bluntest scissors in the world. That sandpaper trick will sharpen those into serrated shears and they will cut better then before. They won’t cut good, but still better then before :)

I found a great pair of ambidextrous scissors and they stayed sharp about 4 years. So I ground the rivet out of them and matched the angle and sharpened them on my knife sharpener that you actually set the proper angles. I then sharpened in three stages. Takes some time but always leaves the sharpest scissors or knives. I replaced the rivet with a stainless steel sholder screw. A scissors manufacturer most likely put this out so as to be able to sell more scissors.

I heard this tale some 50 years ago. My theory is that the shears that were sharpened were so blunt that the only bit that became "sharper" was the edge near the pivot point. And the explanation I gave myself was that near to the pivot point was so rigid that the cutting edge stayed on top of the abrasive material and generated a sherrated edge, but away from the pivot point, the blades begin to separate and the edge is destroyed not restored. I have never carried out a scientific test of this theory, but it satisfies me as plusible as to why. Glad to see some debunk it as a usable method with a practical demostration.

That is amazing… you got that stone to hold together with Super Glue!

The scissors you used on the sandpaper look like Bonsai Root Pruning shears. They have the large handles and short blades to get leaverage when cutting the roots. When new, if they are like mine, they will have a different blade profile than sewing scissors. When I did my first Bonsai courses the instructor called them Chinese scissors and pointed out the difference. The blades are sharpened straight to the cutting edge, so that in use two very sharp cutting edges pass each other giving a very clean cut. Sewing scissors have two distinct angles on them, and work more by shearing than cutting. Years ago I was also told that trying to cut the top off of a bottle sharpens scissors. I've tried it on blunt scissors found in the office stationery cupboard, and to some extent it gave a slight improvement, probably by smoothing out burrs, but is definitely temporary. Thanks for the videos, these are more than interesting.

I never tried it, but I have heard of the :trick" 50 years ago.

Paul Sellers "taught me" to draw file a pair of scissors. Very effective, but I'm definitely trying my honing stones next time. Thanks

I used to go around at the company I worked for about once a week to grab the scissors and sharpen the ones that needed it. My boss was a little surprised to find out why the requests for new scissors dropped off so dramatically after I started working for him.

You inspired me to go to the bench and sharpen all my scissors and shears, well almost all, I still have to go through all the metal cutting shears. Cheers, Dan.

i actually inherited quite a few old scissors that i cleaned up & sharpened. I really like having them. Nice old tools.

I was thinking OMG he's not going to use a good pair to test, then, you did. Gave me chills. Modifying a tool to do a job is one thing but deliberately damaging it 'in the interest of science' another. Kudos to you, I would have found a rusty blunt pair for 'testing' (wife and stepdaughter are a bit careless)

Very much awaited video!. I carve small figures in wood and the subject of sharpening is very important in wood carving. Can you show in a video how to sharpen knives and chisels, Thank you very much

My uncle was a knife sharpening wizard. Thanks much for the video.

I remember hearing the sandpaper trick years ago when I was a young boy. And that was way before the internet was invented, I questioned it even then. Tried it once and proved it to be wrong.

My grandfather was a blacksmith, he taught me how to sharpen scissors, knives, drill bits and anything else with a edge on it when I was very young. I had people bring me knives and scissors to sharpen all the time at work. I have a box of drill bits the were thrown away and I would get them and rework them to cut like butter.

Us old timers who have been using scissors over many years, have learned how to sharpen them out of necessity. They used to be prized possessions and rather expensive to buy new, so sharpening was the way to go, The factors the enter into a scissors that will cut are: the edges of the blades, the condition of their back sides and the amount of tension on the screw that hold them together. All 3 must be in proper relationship for them to work correctly. We all know a flat, polished metal edge will reflect light, where a knife edge that comes to a sharp angle/apex will not. So, be refreshing that edge back to the factory angle is the way to make them sharp and cutting like new. Some scissor's back sides are flat and others are convex, so a stroke or two over the stone will eliminate any burrs on those. Make certain the screw is seated and tight so the edges will cross each other without deflecting. There you have it, my "theory" of sharpening scissors after 50 years.

I appreciate you for challenging that theory, and showing us the process to sharpening scissors

A sharp tool is a wonderful thing. Great video.

I am guessing that you received the first part of their email marketing campaign. The second part would be "now that all of your scissors are dull, you can buy our scissor sharpening system with a 1x30 belt sander and a tormec style wheel system".

Almost choked on my breakfast laughing when I came to the part about cutting sandpaper to sharpen scissors.

Hi Dave, here in the UK the 1st April is known as April Fools Day. This day is a chance for people to take the mickey out of someone. Did you get the email on April 1st?

There's never been a better place to find wrong information than the internet.

it unbelievable how many people i have met that ruin good scissors by "sharpening" the shearing face, because they dont understand the basic logic od scissors, this video should be used in schools as instruction for basic cutting practise and understanding blade physics

I got that same email, evidently, he didn't click the link that said April Fools !

My dad would say “ don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see” I think that’s a good philosophy to live by , more so with the internet.

Thank you! A very simple and straight-forward demonstration that works!

Thanks for the tutorial, now off to try to sharpen those dull scissors in my shop.

Thanks for solving this problem I could not see sandpaper doing that sharpening and the way you file it down with the home is the way I’ve done all my life

I just this past weekend sharpened all of my (mostly circa-1960s) Wiss shears. One pair, recently acquired, was in such poor shape and had such a gap between parts of the blades that I had to take the pivot screw out and flatten them on some diamond stones almost like I was dealing with a pair of new plane irons. After that I just sharpened as per usual. As you might expect, they work wonderfully well now!

Good to know. I've often wondered how to sharpen scissors - now I'm armed with real knowledge. Thank you!

I learned to sharpen knives in high school when I worked in a grocery store. I watched the meat cutters sharpening their knives, and asked the oldest meat cutter how to do it. Using a stone and a steel gets the job done and I've been doing it ever since. A dull knife is dangerous.

Dave, A sheerly delightful lesson on shears! Great video as always!

keeping your scissors clean, is the best way to keep them sharp.

Another great video from a man with common sense. Thank You Dave

Because people believe they right about things that simply don’t make sense. I think the internet / u t are part of the problem. So much wrong stuff gets out there. You (and me, and millions of others) practice things that can’t be faked. That you for showing true ways.

Thanks for shearing this with us! 😉

Missed seeing an update on the manure spreader but scissor sharpening has proved extremely useful. I have always struggled with this but no longer. Thanks Dave

The hollow ground geometry of scissor blades is the key element of good cutting scissors. Thank you for the thorough explanation.

Thanks so much for busting this "cut sandpaper with scissors to sharpen them" myth. I had never tried it, but it had always sounded stupid to me; I am glad to know that it was indeed a rotten idea.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. You just explained how to do something that I've been trying to learn all my life! I have a whole drawer in my tool box full of dull and half sharp scissors that I could not get sharp, but refused to throw away. I immensely enjoy your videos, and today learned something that has pestered me for about as long as you've owned that whett stone

The original poster of that 'sandpaper sharpening' video might own a scissor factory......... " Hey ! sales are up !"

Thanks for the scissors sharpening demo. Cheers 🦘🇦🇺👍🙂

I usually sharpen them by passing them through the spout of a glass bottle..., as if I wanted to cut the bottle in half from the spout to the bottom but making the "cutting" movement on the angular side of the edge and not on the flat side of the blade...,✂️ I have always done it this way and it has worked for me, both with the scissors and crafts and the medium and heavy duty ones that I use in the workshop..! Greetings from Ecuador 🇪🇨👍🏻

Paper dulls scissors? Hold up-paper covers scissors!

I've seen the same recommendation and had the same reaction. However, I didn't bother to test it like you did. Glad to learn that my first reaction was correct. In the past, I've usually just touched up the hollow ground side, but lately I've been doing the thin edge, too. Clearly, the way you've been doing it is the right way, but it's harder, because it's more nuanced.

Thank you Dave. God Bless You and Mrs. Enge;s.

A quick way is to use a glass mug handle, and run the scissors in a cutting action along the glass about 6 times. Really works.

Thanks for finding that and telling people about it. That was a very good lesson to learn. I hope people were listening. I like diamond stones myself. I have been sharpening for many years.

I’m a retired trained Barber. In school we learned how to sharpen a straight razor. You can use the same principle to sharpen a knife or shears. Basically the same as you showed in your video minus the leather strap that we used to smooth the edge of a razor.

You mean everything on the Internet isn't true? GASP!!! 😱😱😱

I agree Dave, love those early spring meadow larks. Great tutorial on scissor sharpening and snake oil salesmen.

My daughter came home from school one day and in our conversation she mentioned that her teacher had told her that when a parachutist pulls their chute they stop going down and go up. I could see how some people may think this when you see videos of them seeming to rise whilst the camera man continues down at a their original rate. Took me some time to convince her the teacher was wrong or my daughter had heard it wrong. I finally convinced her it was not true when I took her into the garden and asked her why she could not see all the parachutists in the sky still going up. I must confess however that the other week I had her convinced that the huge C-5 Galaxy planes were used to remove the rain from clouds by sucking the clouds in at the front of the engine, drying the water from the cloud into huge water tanks inside the plane and them blowing the dried cloud back out the exhaust.

my Father-In-Law swore by Arkansas Oil Stone to sharpen his tools. We have his flat stone and the tubular shaped stone that he sharpened the edge of his scythe when cutting wheat or weeds.

Very well done as usual. I'm an oldtimer too, and I remember hearing this "cutting sandpaper will sharpen scissors" myth a long time ago. Some myths never die. cheers from a musical instrument maker in Vienna, also a sharpener of scissors, Scott

Thank you for dispelling this myth from the internet.

Excellent tutorial!💡 After all these years, I finally know why I could never really get my shears properly sharp. I made the mistake of doing light passes on the flat side to deburr after doing the bevel. With a diamond whetstone, that's enough to knock back the shear edge I had just put on. DOH! 😳 Well, an old dog just learned a new trick. 😎👍

I'm glad you post videos like this Dave, because common sense isn't very common.

You are amazing! Keep up the candor!

Have read/heard of that technique before, but never held much stock in it. Glad to see you call it out.

I was so relieved when you said you were not going to sharpen your new sheers and the two older pairs. I too like a sharp knife, chisel, plane iron, or pair of scissors and I have learned how to maintain them. Easier to work with and safer to use.

Great advice again!

Thanks for this tutorial Dave! I also sharpened a pair of scissors given to me the wrong way, but now I know how to fix it. I also heard people say you must cut a glass bottle neck with your scissors to sharpen it.

Found my old whetstone and did as you indicated. Only took about 10 swipes each and wow what a difference!

That comes from a Sharp mind!

Great video, thanks!

I have three pair of the Wiss shears like your large ones. One is a pair my Mom has had longer than I've been alive (70 years). Two I used 50 years ago when I worked in a furniture factory. I sharpen them with an Arkansas stone, only on the thin bevel surface of each blade. You can shave with them. I'd never cut anything more abrasive than a sheet of typing paper or light cardboard (cereal box) with them. I sharpened a pair of tin snips for most of my rough cutting, they give lots of leverage for thick material and you can get a pretty good edge on them.

I have a few pairs of blunt scissors. This afternoon they'll be sharp. Great advice. Thank you.

Thanks for posting. My pet peeve is people using scissors to cut sandpaper instead of folding it and tearing along the fold. Before I retired, I had a pretty decent side job going sharpening filet knives. People at the limnology lab would leave a couple of beers along with their filet knives to get sharpened. I sharpened them for the asking, but if they felt the need to leave beer, I wasn't going to say no.

Dave, Very good advice, I feel the same about sandpaper. I watch all of your videos, I am a Blacksmith so I really enjoy them. Bill Poust

I always knew that you are a 'smart' man Dave!

Haha, wow that was a little difficult to watch. I have a dedicated pair for cutting sandpaper if I have to(very rarely) but yes it wipes them out. I also learned at a very young age to sharpen pocket knives. And still have the oil stones I had in college. (43) years for me. At family gatherings I am the official knife sharpener. Thanks again.

Great job love your videos thank you

Once again thanks for the video, it was sharp,

The use of sand paper can cause the "shears" to spread apart as well. Very difficult to get the edges back together sometimes. Made me sick to my stomach when I saw you do that, yes I know, you're proving a point. For me, it's a "been there, done that" Since as I've stated many times in the past, my grand dad when he was alive, taught me a great many things and one of the very first was how to sharpen knives, scissors, chisels, hand planes, etc., anything with an edge to it. I was taught to use sharpening stones (water and or oil stones), along with diamond stones with a leather strop. Usually most times, only needed the strop as a touch up to the edges. Great video as always, cheers :)