Convex hair shears, thinning shears - how sharp?

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Recently came into a couple of thinning and one convex hair shear.

I've always considered trying my hand at these but have been too cheap to buy any to learn on. Ran into an old friend who has a salon and what he calls the "crypt" of old or less expensive shears he either didn't like enough and/or they were inexpensive enough he never bothered to have them resharpened. He was nice enough to loan me some in the $100-200 range, understanding I am a novice on these tools - he wants them back but "I don't care if you grind them into stubs".

Since two were never resharpened I only have the factory finish to go by, so I dup'd that as close as possible. I have zero idea how to test for sharpness on these.

I have the thinning shears to where they cleanly perforate a piece of toilet tissue stem to stern (and thin my hair out no problem). The convex shear cleanly snips wet or dry toilet paper and I nearly cut myself just wiping them off. Don't know what the "standard" is - suspect its the cut test and I'm no stylist...

Was hoping to have a better idea of what some folks use for testing (I don't have any disposable neck wraps) before I sent them back home for a real test.

Any ideas or insight appreciated.

Martin

ETA: With the convex shears I was able to slide cut a paper towel with no snagging and the blades individually will cleanly shave hair off my arm. If this isn't sharp enough I'm gobsmacked.

 

I did the thinning shears freehand. I also did the convex shears freehand initially, and they turned out very sharp - shaving armhair and drawslicing wet paper towel with no snag. But...the cosmetics were not good enough for commercial work. I would up doing them on a 45 and 9 micron diamond belt followed by leather and compound. The ride and final deburr I did by hand on an 8k waterstone.

I still haven't heard back, but then I might never...

I also recently was able to test my rig for doing curved shears - I have a friend who used to do dog grooming and had a big pair or curved ones. They had always been sent out to a service, but the grinds were terrible - did not match up at all. I was able to do them perfect - in this case for poodles and such I left them with a 125 micron edge with a little microbevel freehand and just enough on the ride to remove the burr - micro and deburr done on a 2k waterstone.

 

More side work would be great!
I almost need to buy a mid range convex shear - something in the $2-300 dollar range. Ultimately you can only learn so much on new shears tho.

I run the diamond belts on a hard platen at relatively slow speed, then buff at high speed with leather. The shears with a flat cutting bevel I've just been deburring with an 8k and hitting the ride with same. Only the dog shears left off at lower grit.

I recently upgraded my guided jig so I don't have to freehand the microbevel/deburr anymore, which is a nice relief. I'm ready to hang a shingle.