Hair Shears/Scissors

German-style shears have non-honed, beveled blades. “German-style” and “beveled” are interchangeable terms. Beveled shears produce a crisp cut, are durable and exceptional for dry and taper cutting, pretty good for wet and point cutting, and poor for slide cutting.

Japanese-style shears are honed, convex blades with a very sharp, more delicate edge. “Japanese-style” is synonymous with “convex”. Convex shears produce a softer cut, are exceptional for slide, wet and point cutting, very good for dry cutting, and pretty good for taper cutting.

A convex blade is slightly harder to sharpen and takes more time to finish thus being more expensive.

How I sharpen shears

I treat every pair of shears with extreme care, and full concentration.  I understand many people have shears that cost hundreds.  I use a flat-hone machine designed to sharpen shears.  The machine uses sandpaper disks from 1000-5000 Grit.  Additionally I use a cushion, and a wool disk coated with a diamond emulsion for honing and polishing convex shears.  If I need to work the rideline I do so with a fresh sheet of 2000-3000 grit sand paper on glass to ensure a flat surface.  I adjust the tension if necessary, test them to make sure they cut well, clean them with alcohol, and apply a tiny amount of lube at the pivot point.