Hair Salon Scissors

A

Antonio Luchesi

Joined
Jan 30, 2019
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I am new here and need your advice. I have been sharpening knives for years and have customers at beauty salons with scissors now. I cannot justify the high price of a specialized machine so would the Worksharp be a option?
 
Welcome.
I neither go to hair salons nor use/own hair scissors but understand that some of these hair salon scissors can be very expensive, so you better get it right :) Good that you asked. Someone in the know might come along.
 
Antonio Luchesi said:
I am new here and need your advice. I have been sharpening knives for years and have customers at beauty salons with scissors now. I cannot justify the high price of a specialized machine so would the Worksharp be a option?
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I don’t know about the Worksharp, but the Spyderco Sharpmaker is designed to sharpen scissors and knives.
 
I 2nd the getting it right thing! Scissors can be $$ and an angry woman with dull scissors will NOT be a good time for ya.
Have some practice pairs before you try one for real.
 
I know those folks spend a fortune on high end steels in scissors. they break easily if dropped. so they are heat treated differently than a knife. harder typically I believe. that's about all I know.

I'd be careful and study up........not sure a work sharp would be the best choice. I'd do by hand myself so I could control better but thats me. wait for true expert to pipe in.....
 
Hair scissors need a near-surgical edge. The rate you can charge for proper sharpening of them more than justifies the investment in tooling. It's possible to hand-hone them, but even with jigs it's gonna' be fiddly. You'd destroy them on a Worksharp. Don't do it.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Hair scissors need a near-surgical edge. The rate you can charge for proper sharpening of them more than justifies the investment in tooling. It's possible to hand-hone them, but even with jigs it's gonna' be fiddly. You'd destroy them on a Worksharp. Don't do it.
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well said Sir.

good point on hand control. didnt look at it that way.....I am now.
 
I've got some "cheap" ones I got for free from a friend and I've played around with honing them, and it's very doable, but it's similar to honing a straight razor in that it takes a lot of time, concentration, and a light touch with super-fine stones to get a good result. Way too long to be a profitable enterprise without a machine.
 
I recall my sister describing her work scissors in a similar fashion that we describe good knives. I'd spring for the right tool for the job, and practice first.
 
We'll put it this way: stylist's shears are often used to zip through hair, and even a single snag in a 12" travel would be considered a failure.
 
Most beauticians have had expensive scissors ruined by someone who had no idea what they were doing and are now VERY careful who they use for sharpening. When I had a sharpening business I only did knives. Hell hath no fury......
 
Thank all of you for your advice.I have decided to get the Work Sharp as it has a jig with it and practice on old scissors. If worse comes to worse I will use my King whetstones.
 
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