6 Signs Your Grooming Cutting Shears Need Sharpening.

Sharp groomer’s shears are an essential tool of the trade–the high-quality kind may even last for as long as 20 years, if not more. This largely depends on maintenance, however, as the original edge will require professional sharpening annually.

To grow your client base and develop a favorable reputation in the pet grooming community, you need to make sure that you’re always equipped with the best possible shears. It’s also important to find a reputable scissor sharpening service that is capable of keeping your shears in tip-top shape.

What are the tell-tale signs that your shears need sharpening?

Groomers may start to notice performance issues while cutting. A shear can fold or bend the fur between the blades, or it may push it away from the edge. Visibly, you may notice a rough spot or even a point in the blades where the two edges hang up when closing.

Here are the key symptoms that you need to keep an eye out for:

1. If the shears are bending the fur, it may be that the tension is too loose. Make the necessary adjustments, but if the issue is not resolved and the fur is still being pushed off of the blade, your shears are most likely dull.

2. If the fur appears to be pinched or pulled (and be warned that your four-legged customer will make you aware of this), this is an indication that there may be a nick on the edge. This usually happens if the shears have been dropped or endured a minor impact.

3. If the blade is producing an audible crunchy sound, or it bumps or hangs as you close it, this is also a sign of a scratched or nicked edge.

4. If you’ve recently sharpened your shears, and they start to feel dull again soon after the service, they may not have been sharpened properly or professionally. If the blade could hold an edge when new, it should last a long time after receiving a certified sharpening service.

5. Difficulty cutting and tired hands show that you are straining while cutting – this is another symptom of dull blades.

6. A sudden change in the results produced by your shears may mean that they are blunt or damaged. First, try to give them a good wipe, making sure the pivot is well-oiled. If this does not help, then it’s time to get them sharpened.

Improper sharpening can damage your shears

There is a plethora of advice and “hacks” on how to sharpen your groomer’s shears. In fact, you may have already taken the plunge and suffered the consequences.

Let’s take a look at some of the dangerous tips you may have encountered:

1. Aluminium foil: folding over the foil and cutting through several times. Do not try this! It will severely round the cutting edge, requiring more metal to be removed to repair them.

2. Sandpaper: Cutting through sandpaper and using it to smooth the nicks or indents on the shear. Another big no-no! Your edge may not recover from this grotesque attempt at sharpening the blades.

3. Home sharpening equipment: High-quality shears require many steps with multiple abrasives and polishing techniques. A home attempt is simply insufficient, and the tools are most likely to damage or ruin your expensive investment piece.

What to do when it’s time to sharpen

Multiple factors will affect the frequency with which you need to sharpen your shears:

How often do you use them each day?

Are you cutting clean fur?

How often do your shears slip and fall to the floor?

Keeping the tension adequately adjusted, oiling, and cleaning the scissors will inevitably prolong the blades longevity.

However, when you do notice any of the symptoms discussed at the beginning of this post, it may be time to give them the love and care they deserve.

Continuing to cut with a dull or blunt shear, especially if the edge has been damaged, will only exacerbate the issue. The knock-on effect, of course, is poor quality cuts, uncomfortable customers, and strain on your fingers as your hand has to work harder to perform the cut.

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HOW TO USE A HONING ROD OR STEEL?

Honing rod goes by many names:

Honing steel, Chefs steel, Honing rod , Sharpening stick, Butchers steel, Sharpening rod, Sharpening steel.

They all mean the same thing - a rod with a handle you use to sharpen knives. Typically the rod is made of steel or ceramic or a diamond composite.

A honing steel is not for bringing a severely damaged knife blade back to life, you need professional sharpening service for it, a honing steel is used to keep the blade fresh and sharp during regular use.

Compared to a sharpening stone, a honing rod does not remove any significant amounts of metal from your knife blade, instead it just removing small flat spots, nicks and minor indentations.

So How to use a honing rod (steel)?

GRAB THE HONING ROD IN YOUR NON DOMINATE HAND

Hold the base of the handle firmly. Hold the base of the honing steel at a comfortable angle from your body. Elevate the tip of the honing steel above the handle then:

POSITION YOUR HAND APPROXIMATELY 20 DEGREES IN RELATION TO THE HONING STEEL

It’s ok if your angle isn’t exact the important part is to maintain a consistent angle throughout to ensure you smooth out the entire blade. An inconsistent angle won’t damage your knife, but there will be dull spots.

PULL THE KNIFE DOWN ACROSS THE TOP OF THE HONING STEEL

Start the motion from beginning of the knife edge to the very tip. Keep the knife in contact with the honing steel the entire move. This motion involves your wrist, hand and arm. Without moving your wrist you won’t be able to bring your knife the entire length of the honing steel. Use only as much pressure as the weight of the honing steel, do not press the honing steel and knife together and repeat.

Honing is for sharp knives to keep them alive, but eventually you need to sharpen them professionally.

Maintain your knives best practice

SHARPENING

Depending on how much you use your knives, they need professional sharpening every six to 12 months. A professional will determine the right angle for your knife’s bevel edge. They will reinstate its original angle by taking off very small amounts of metal from the blade to create a new edge. Any dents, burrs or irregularities can be taken out of the blade with this technique. Even broken tips can be fixed!

Let’s say you just had your knives professionally sharpened. They are all shiny and new, sharp as they were on the day you bought them - or even sharper. But how do you maintain your knives?

HONING

The next step after professionally sharpening knives is honing them before each use. Honing a knife will ensure its blade is centered and straight. Honing doesn’t really sharpen a blade, but because it will align it, the blade will appear sharper. More on the difference between honing and sharpening here.

THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB

Of course, you would never use a kitchen knife to open a cardboard box, but aside from dulling blades on paper, there’s a knife for every job out there. Make sure you have the basic set of most common knives in your kitchen to be prepared for whatever challenge comes up.

STORING

Make sure you store your knives in a way that you don’t accidentally injure yourself and that their blades are protected from getting dull just by being stored. Loosely placing your knives in a drawer is a no-no on both accounts!

A magnetic wall strip, a safe holder or a knife block are all excellent ways to store knives. If you are using a knife block, make sure to keep the following in mind:

Always rest the blade on its spine, i.e. keep the sharp edge away from the wood. Be sure the knife is clean to stop bacteria from growing inside the block. Be sure your knife is dried properly - rust on the blade will dull it

CLEANING

Apart from not cleaning your knives at all, the biggest mistake you can make when cleaning your knives is placing them in a dishwasher. Dishwasher detergent is very abrasive, and the motion inside the dishwasher will cause the knife to rock from side to side and ruin its edge as well as the handle. Here are a few tips to bear in mind when cleaning your knives:

Clean your knives as soon as you have used them. Use warm, soapy water. Only clean one knife at a time (‘soaking’ them in the sink with other items will bang their blades against each other and dull them, as well as increase your chance of injury drastically). Always hold the blade away from yourself, you are using a cloth or sponge, fold over the back of the blade (the so-called spine) and wipe from the heel of the blade towards the tip of the knife. Thoroughly rinse your knife with water. Apply the same precautionary measures as you did cleaning your knife when drying it.

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