Ive got to tell you, I'm exited about your new project, the Scissor option. I'm a gun and knife guy. I reload my own cartages and sharpen my own knives.I also own a dog grooming business and by me, I mean my wife. Once upon a time I talked her into giving me some of her shears to sharpen, I free handed them, I think I'm pretty good free hand, but its a matter of perspective, I would never be a uniform as WES.I proudly handed them to her and waited a few days for some feed back. When it didn't come , I asked... yes they were sharp, but they slightly "pushed the hair" this has the over all effect of leaving a choppy look.

I wondered if I went to far with thstroppingng? for the mirror (sorrPhilll) finish.I thinpossiblyly, the slighimperfectionsns Grab the hair as it is sheared off. I plan to do some testing to tell, Ive been saving the dull shears so I can do a side by side real world test.'how sharp is best" its a forest for the trees kinda thing.

I haven't done a lot of scissors (and none on the WE obviously), but here's what I learned and has worked for me:
(This also doesn't apply to high end convex scissors.)

- Only work the bevel side, never the flat. (There's some exceptions but very rare).
- Finish at around 600g. Like you said, you want the scissors to "catch" and cut. (WIth the diamond stones, I'm thinking 800g might work well too, but not sure about the ceramic.)
- Keep the striations perpendicular to the edge.
- Never use leather or any soft medium.
- To debur, use one of two options. One, make a few cuts thru a shop paper towel. Or, spread the blades apart so they don't touch, close the scissors, then let the blades touch and open them. Repeat this 2-3 times. Avoid closing the scissors on an edge with a bur.
- Checking and adjusting the blade tension is also important... too tight or too loose and they won't cut well, no matter how sharp.

There's probably a couple more, when I think of them, I'll add them.

Like I said, I'm no expert... it's what I learned, and has worked for the ones I've done.

Although I haven't been let near her $600 Kenchii's which are convex and hollow ground, I have played with some Osters ($100), Ive had some success, the bevel edge is pretty strait forward, uniformity is key. What I played with is removing the burr. I used various strops with various compounds and multiple angles to what can only be described as an exercise in futility. I was talking with an old timer that does wood working and industrial sharpening and he lead me down a path that cost me a bottle of old grand dad...after putting the edge on, take a peace of MDF and embed it with jewelers rouges and lay the scissor perfectly flat on the hollow and draw it away from the sharpened edge. The key was never use the same place twice. Ive had the best results with this. I'm looking forward to Clay's method.

WayneBeatty wrote:


That'll work... I think the main points are not to take any metal off the flat side, and not to end up with the burr folded between the two blades.