Scissor sharpening tools

Joined
Apr 2, 2018
Messages
9
I’m a newbie but have been trying to read all prior threads to avoid reposting... most threads are (understandably) discussing knife sharpening systems. My primary need is precise scissor sharpening.

Looking at these players
tsprof vs kme vs wicked edge Vs edge pro

They all have scissor attachments... but not sure what is the best. Can’t find much discussion.

Would very much appreciate any thoughts.
These are for cutting hair so must be super sharp

Would also consider any other systems, power belts, etc if you suggest i look into them.

Many thanks!
 
Sharpening scissors for hair cutting is a lot different than regular scissors.
My ex was a hairdresser & had some pretty pricey scissors as did her co-workers.
The balance & pivot tension are critical not just sharpness.
They used to send them out to be done as it is pretty easy to ruin an expensive pair of shears.
Just my $.02 maybe other members can be more informative.
 
Take a hard look at the EdgePro scissor sharpener attachment as it is very high quality, both the design and construction, hard to beat IMO. It works on both the Apex and Pro and is the culmination of over 20 years of development. Although I have never sharpened hair cutting scissors I have sharpened a lot of them including some that were close to what a stylist uses and have never had an issue with the sharpener. I generally finish them with their 4k diamond resin stone, because I like the sharpness of polished edges and there is less of a burr to deal with when burnishing the edges.

Disclaimer- I have been making the parts that make up the scissor sharpener for 18 years now, but I know how well they are made and think you would be hard pressed to find something better in the price range.
 
Thanks so much! I have been looking at the edgepro attachment. Too bad none of the kits come with one. It does look like a great option... seems like several of the high end systems have a scissor tool add on...

Oldtymer... thank you for the word of caution. I’m hoping to take my time with it and enable more frequent care of our tools. It is never convenient sending them out... so we probably don’t send them as often as we should. Would be much better to be able to touch up in-house on down time. If they can sharpen them... there must be a reliable way for us to do it too!

Hopefully we will hear from some others too!

Thanks again
 
I would get a twice as sharp. If you want to to do beauty shears I would get the convexing attachment for it, which would run less than $1k total IIRC. The next and final product I would upgrade to would be the hiroto at around $2k.
 
Thanks so much Josh!
Just to keep it organized here for others (and me)
You suggested the motorized system:
https://www.wolffindustries.com/shop-by-industry/sharpening-systems/twice-as-sharp-landing.html

and
https://www.wolffindustries.com/pro...ira-to-sharpener-with-hook-and-loop-pads.html

These do look amazing! Thank you so much for sharing...
I was originally thinking a manual system may be better for me - as we could take-it-easy and go slow...
but I do very much appreciate these suggestions - and I have a feeling these are the tools of the trade when you send in your scissors to the pros.

Many thanks for sharing them.
Regarding the two... can you tell me anything about them? When you would use one or the other? pros/cons of each?

Best
Jeff
 
Hapstone Scissor Sharpening Attachment

Indeed, a scissor sharpening attachment is available to several guided sharpening systems:
Just to help others with this thread... here are the scissor attachments I've found:
EdgePro
http://www.edgeproinc.com/Professional-Scissor-Attachment-p12.html

TSProf (couldn't get a direct link... but if you click on the scissor will show you photo)
http://tsprof.com/#config-block

KME
https://www.kmesharp.com/nekmescandsh.html

Wicked Edge
https://wickededgeusa.com/products/scissor-attachment
When I got my Hapstone V6 in April 2017, I was informed by the people at HAPSTONE, that a scissor sharpening attachment would be available for the Hapstone V6 in the second half of 2017.

I was told that it would be available as an accessory and that it could be installed on all versions Hapstone PRO.

At the time, HAPSTONE had made the following images available on their web site, so here you can see, what I have been waiting for:
Sharpening%20scissors%20device%203.png
Sharpening%20scissors%20device%202.png
Sharpening%20scissors%20device%201.png
Sharpening%20scissors%20device%206.png
Sharpening%20scissors%20device%209.png
Sharpening%20scissors%20device%207.png
Sharpening%20scissors%20device%208.png


I have now been waiting for a year, and there is still no scissor sharpening attachment available. I think I also asked @Gritomatic about the availabillity of this attachement, but he could not give any details.

I asked the people at HAPSTONE to inform me as soon as the attachment would be available, but I have yet to hear from them.

Good things come to those who wait, but I must say that the waiting has been long.

While waiting, I have been sharpening with my Hapstone V6 (revision 2) and the Rotating Clamp System available for it. It has performed very well, so I feel reluctant to switch to another guided sharpening system.

However, if no scissor sharpening attachment becomes available for my sharpener, this is perhaps what I will have to do. As this thread indicates, there are several very interesting scissor attachments available right now.
 
Last edited:
For hair cutting scissors I'd not do it myself. Seems to be whole another game than regular scissors or knives.
 
Looks like hapstone may be comming up with something new in the spring for scissors...
I read, that the Hapstone R1 has an expected price of 500 USD.
Add to this the price of the scissors and shears attachment and you will have to buy a very expensive sharpening system.
 
Hapstone wrote back to me. They are expecting the scissor attachment to be ready June 2018, and will fit " V7, M2, and R1."
They didn't say if it would fit the V6... and didn't offer a price range for the attachment.

I'm not that sure what the new systems will offer... but it seems like the V7 plus scissor attachment may be a good value for a brand name system (if it actually becomes available June 2018 as they say).

The edge pro scissor attachment requires the professional system (I don't think it works with the Apex)... so that gets pretty pricy also.

Although I was focusing on the manual systems and not really looking to buy something heavy and large, the more I learn about the twice as sharp - the more I'm thinking that may be the best tool for the job for true professional scissor sharpening. The OGC-TAS may be the right tool for me... but researching.... (Thanks again Josh for suggesting those options).
 
The EdgePro scissor sharpening attachment works with the Apex just fine, always has. What is "new" is they make the adapter in production runs so they are always in stock. It used to be you had to ask and Ben would make one up special.

I know EdgePro will sharpen knives as samples of what their sharpeners will do, perhaps they would do the same with scissors, worth asking. They do have a refund policy if you don't like the setup after you buy it and try it out. Again, worth asking them about.

I talked with Cody today and asked him what all the hubub was about with hair cutting scissors. He said the main issue seemed to be that nearly all hair cutting scissors had convex bevels and the EdgePro setup, and all of the ones like it, could only do flat bevels. If you don't mind being limited to flat bevels then the EdgePro system works fine for hair cutting scissors, just make sure you get the angles right, something like 40-42 degrees.
 
Thank you so much Diemaker. I totally misread the edgepro website! I see my error. There are two versions of the scissor holder. One for pro and one for apex. That is Great news!

My scissors are not convex. And i think you propose an excellent idea.

Thanks again!

For conpleteness... edgepal will also be introducing a scissor holder for their chef system. But this looks to be a steep investment. The images and specific pricing are not yet online. But the chef system is here.
http://www.edgepal.com/english/chef-17907911
 
Sharpening scissors for hair cutting is a lot different than regular scissors.
My ex was a hairdresser & had some pretty pricey scissors as did her co-workers.
The balance & pivot tension are critical not just sharpness.
They used to send them out to be done as it is pretty easy to ruin an expensive pair of shears.
Just my $.02 maybe other members can be more informative.

You speak the truth regarding the super high quality scissors that people in the barber and hair dressing vocations use. An ex-girlfriend of mine was in that trade and she had a guy come to her shop to sharpen her's and he also tested the tension you made reference to. Those professional shears are a different animal all together for sure.

Now I came across a pair of Victorinox scissors I got at a knife shop here in KC, MO and was told they were professional scissors. I've only been using the scissor sharpening set up on my Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker and believe it or not I've actually had really great results using the Sharpmaker. Now I only use the fine and ultra-fine stones and mostly the UF. I just really take my time and try to keep everything in near perfect alignment. So far, so good.

And for all my household scissors I've also found the 204 Sharpmaker scissor sharpening set up to work great on those too.
 
You speak the truth regarding the super high quality scissors that people in the barber and hair dressing vocations use. An ex-girlfriend of mine was in that trade and she had a guy come to her shop to sharpen her's and he also tested the tension you made reference to. Those professional shears are a different animal all together for sure.

Now I came across a pair of Victorinox scissors I got at a knife shop here in KC, MO and was told they were professional scissors. I've only been using the scissor sharpening set up on my Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker and believe it or not I've actually had really great results using the Sharpmaker. Now I only use the fine and ultra-fine stones and mostly the UF. I just really take my time and try to keep everything in near perfect alignment. So far, so good.

And for all my household scissors I've also found the 204 Sharpmaker scissor sharpening set up to work great on those too.

Some tasks are best left to the Pros.
For regular scissors & wire cutters the Sharpmaker is great. I still have my original 203F that I bought when they first came out. I also
have the 204F for about 4 years. The newer base makes it much more versatile.
 
Thanks so much oldtymer!
I actually own a Sharpmaker
https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details/204MF/Tri-Angle-Sharpmaker-reg-/77

And am very fond of it for keeping my kitchen knives in good shape. Love it!
I've been a bit hesitant to use it on these precision scissors though... as the angle is not as constant/reliable using the Sharpmaker as the other units discussed above.

It is great to hear though that you have found it to be helpful for your standard household scissors! It is a great tool
 
Just to be clear, there is only one scissor sharpener attachemnt from EdgePro. The difference is the piece that gets mounted to the knife sharpener body for the 1/4" rod to slide through to lock the angle setting of the scissor attachement.
 
Steve Bottorff has written a book on sharpening and has been a professional sharpener for quite some time. His web site has some very interesting things to read about. He also offers in person training and sells several models of professional sharpening gear, including the Twice As Sharp and the Hira-To.

http://sharpeningmadeeasy.com/recommendedequipment.html

I have only had very minor communications with him and I have not bought anything from him. But he seems to be one of the real deal accessible training and equipment resources for learning to truly professionally sharpen scissors.

So far I've only sharpened a couple of rather cheap pairs of scissors and shears. I think it is it's own discipline.

Brian.
 
Looks like hapstone may be comming up with something new in the spring for scissors...
http://hapstone.pro/en/hapstone-r1/

Not much info on line, but i sent them an email to try to learn more.

Well, apparently not in a foreseeable future according to this posting:

https://www.facebook.com/gritomatic/posts/1713047328799503

After waiting almost two years on the Hapstone attachment, I recently bought a complete Wicked Edge system including their scissor sharpening attachment.
It really works great.

So perhaps I'll have a Hapstone system for sale...
 
Last edited:
Back
Top