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Five Thumbs
21st November 2004, 03:28 PM
Hi All

I don't know is this is the right area but couldn't see an alternative. SWMBO has a pair of dressmaking scissors which don't cut properly.

They have 4" blades and will cut for the first 3 " but then the material just folds over. I have sharpened the blades evenly along their length and taken off the 'wired edge'. I have experimented with the locking tension but to no avail.

Any suggestions?

Cheers

5T

vsquizz
21st November 2004, 03:58 PM
5T If the pin is tight so as not to allow the blades to separate and the edge is good then the blades must be bent. Try checking with a straightedge.

Cheers

Grahame Collins
21st November 2004, 06:32 PM
All good scissors should have set which is a bow along the length of the broad matching surfaces.
Those broad faces should be extremely flat across the narrow width of the flat surfaces.
This is where many diy people do the irrepairable damage to them by honing or filing on any angle, bar exactly dead flat.

The pin should be snug tight enough to keep the shearing surfaces in contact from the beginning to the end of the cut. Good scissors have a threaded pin
More than likely it is the set or lack of it which is preventing the shearing faces coming into direct contact with that last portion of the cut.

The set is in the order of a possibly a few thou- but that depends on the length of the blades.

Hairdressers scissors are yet another order of magnitude more difficult- expert job!- but dressmakers shears being sturdy should take a set using a soft face hammer.

I hope thats clear enough
Grahame Collins

Five Thumbs
21st November 2004, 08:01 PM
Squizzy: Thanks for your input.


Graham: There is a set along the facing flat surfaces of the the blades. It is visible under a straight edge and certainly measurable in thousands of inch. The pin is a nut and bolt and the handle ends of the blades have flat springs around the pin hole (to add some tension I suppose).

When I sharpened the blades I flattened the inside faces with a mill file. I think they are flat. I will check again and then try a soft faced hammer to increase the set slightly.

Thank you for your advice

Cheers

5T