How to Sharpen Beautician and Barber Scissors at Home

If you want to sharpen your own scissors or shears it is a good idea to have some training. If you want you can practice on some old or worn out scissors. If you make a mistake on your professional scissors, a professional sharpener may be able to save your scissors or shears. However improperly sharpened scissors or shears can result in too much metal being taken off. This can shorten the life of your scissors. With the cost of a good pair or scissors or shears in hundreds of dollars, you will agree there is little room for error.

First make a stropping stick. Take a smooth piece of leather and glue it to a flat piece of wood. An old belt and a piece of ply wood will work fine. If you don't have a sharpening machine and most folks do not, you can try this method. First, when sharpening most scissors it is important to remember not to sharpen the cutting blades where they slide against each other. This can ruin some scissors.

Lets start with pinking shears and scissors, open the blades and position them in a vise between two pieces of wood. Take a piece of sandpaper of 80 grit or higher and wrap it around a pencil. Place the pencil on the cutting angle of the blade. Remember the angle runs from the outside to the inside of the blade. Do not sharpen the inside of the blade. Pull the pencil across the blade about three or four pulls then do the same on the other side. A burr edge will be formed along the cutting edge of the blade. Open and close the blades several times to remove the burrs. Use a strop stick and a polishing compound to polish and hone the edge.Then test for test for sharpness. Always start with a courser grit and move to a finer grit with each sharpening session. After two or three sessions your scissors should be sharp. Test with cloth or latex rubber sheets. You can repeat this process until you are happy with the result.

Convex or curved scissor blades need to be moved along the convex angle as you pull. Try to pull in one motion from front to rear of the blade. As you proceed, a bur edge will be formed on the cutting edge of the blade. Open and close the scissors several times to remove the burs. Use a leather strop and a polishing compound to hone the edges. Test for sharpness. If you are satisfied with the result, you are finished. If not, repeat the process with the finer grit sandpaper until sharp. Coat with oil and reassemble. The procedure described above requires more time and elbow grease than does sharpening ordinary scissors, but smooth cuts made with little effort make the work worthwhile.