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Whats the deal with fabric scissors? Do they break when used on other things?
fabric scissors need to be sharp to do their job effectively.
cutting other things, even paper, can (and will) dull the blades enough so they're no longer suitable for their original intended task.
then when gramma, or whoever, wants to use 'their scissors' to cut some fabric, and they aren't functioning properly... let's just say it may not go well for the guilty party.
tl;dr: they're no longer pure and must be replaced with new virgin scissors.
That's when they become "stabbing scissors"!
Can’t you just sharpen them? Won’t fabric dull them? You can’t tell me that paper dulls scissors faster than fabrics.
I highly doubt using fabric scissors one time for cutting paper will do anything to them
You are hereby banned from the sewing room.
You think cutting through a tree won't dull scissors? Fabric is made from plant fluff or hair.
More seriously - Yes you can sharpen them but many fabric stores no longer offer the service regularly. Some knife sharpeners will do it but others won't. My scissors can be sent back to the maker to be sharpened but then I would be without my fabric scissors for weeks. If you do it yourself you will fail.
This is one of my favorite comments of all time. I have sent a screen shot to three different people that get pissed when I won't let them use my shears.
had no idea about the level of complexity in sharpening scissors. TIL
They are more difficult than knives because they have to be sharpened so that they work as a set. If you screw it up, they no longer cut clean along the correct plane.
It's not that bad, they're single bevel so you'd have to try to sharpen the wrong side of the blade to fuck it up too badly
Any disruption of the interference fit between the contact or cutting faces can ruin scissors - it's a lot like grinding a straight razor, but where you have incredibly strict angle requirements across a compound surface. You're absolutely right though that the #1 mistake people make is to mess up the hollows by flat sharpening them like knives.
It’s a single bevel.
Sharpen the angled side at the proper angle, and remove the burr by flattening the smooth side of the blade on a decent diamond stone.
I have my great grandfathers barber’s shears, and that’s how they’ve been sharpened for going on 100 years now. You need a stone wide enough for the whole blade, so that its uniformly flat, but other than that it’s pretty logical how they need to be sharpened.
It's a shame more fabric enthusiastics don't do this, we'd have an army of skilled blade sharpeners and weapon/fabric enthusiastics could join forces and reign supreme
I think everyone should learn how to sharpen a kitchen knife at least.
Dull knives are dangerous, and it really only takes an afternoon to get decent at sharpening a knife.
Unfortunately there’s a lot of lore about knife sharpening, like how you need really fine grit stones, or a whetstone being the best, when in reality you can get a shaving sharp edge from a 20 dollar diamond stone from a hardware store. Sure, a 4000 grit stone will get you a mirror finish and a more refined edge that will last slightly longer, but even an 80 grit stone when used properly, will get you a good edge that will last for months without any other sharpening.
Seriously, what's with these people thinking fabric scissors are magic? If anything, they're significantly easier to sharpen than a knife.
I think it's down to most people not having used modern high end shears, which usually have convex bevels (and some pain in the ass exotic steels). If you can sharpen that without destroying the tension/edge finish using a hardware store stone (like someone in this thread was claiming), I'll be properly impressed.
You're highly wrong, then. Go get a straight razor and drag it through some paper, then see how nice it is to shave with. Fabric shears have surfaces honed to the same degree.
Does cutting fabric not dull the blades? It seems like a lot of fabrics should be tougher to cut through than paper?
Paper is made out of wood, the fibers are much harder than most sewing fabrics like cotton. It's only easier to cut because it's so stiff compared to fabric so even dull scissors can split it.
Yes, and you can sharpen them, it just takes time.
tl;dr: they’re no longer pure and must be replaced with new virgin scissors.
Damn that's a horrible punishment. (I'm at least assuming if fabric scissors are only to be used on cutting fabric).
Fabric scissors just happen to be very good at cutting most things. I use mine to cut open packages, leather, plastics, and cloth! Just avoid cutting anything harder than the steel your scissors are made out of like metal, wires, and such. A quick hone will refresh the edges when you need it.