How to Cure a Shear Bellyache

Have you had this problem? I had an email from a sharpener in Australia with this dilemma. He wrote, “I sharpened a pair of shears for a stylist yesterday & she called today and said that about 1/2 way down the shears do not cut the hair properly. The shear is a Sensei GSC 55 (long life)
I shaped the shear at a 40 degree angle with 30 micron paper, sharpened & shined it with 15 and then 9 micron paper. (no polish) I honed the ride line and it came back and looks good Do you have any Idea how I can solve this problem or what I did wrong?”

The section of the shear blade the stylist is talking about is referred to as the “belly of the blade.” It is hard to answer a question like this without seeing the shear. Also, I am not sure what sharpening equipment this sharpener is using although I can assume by his question he has a Flathone with a clamp. Here are my suggestions in order of easiest to correct to the hardest. They are into that sharpener in condensed form.
1. The first suspicion on ANY complaint is a loose screw. Often shears will loosen after a sharpening. Ask the stylist if the hair is folding in the center before causing her to use more side pressure to make them cut. If she answers yes, you may be able to correct this by instructing her over the phone how to tighten her screw. The Sensei shear you mentioned has a leaf shape spring mechanism. If the screw is not holding, you may need to slightly bend the leaf clicker plate to put more tension on the screw. Also check that you did not leave the washer protruding through the back.
1. Next possibility is that something happened to the shears after you left. Did she drop them or cut dirty hair? We give a 30 guarantee on our sharpening regardless of what happens. A guarantee like this allows the stylist to be honest with you if something happened to her shears after you left rather than blaming you for bad sharpening.
2. The third possibility that is an easy fix is you pushed the bur to the outside and didn't remove it. This bur worked its way back over and created a dull or nicked spot in the center. Sometimes a gentle strop with a nail buffer, a razor strop or a worn 9 micron pad will remove this bur and fix the problem. Polish would have also taken care of this as long as you don't roll over the edge and polish just up to the edge. Enough to remove that residual bur, but not so much as to knock off your edge. I suspect this is the case since you said you did not polish the shear. If stropping doesn’t work you can resharpen by removing just a small amount. You may want to start with a 15 or 9 micron and touch it up.
3. The angle you used in sharpening could be a problem. You said you used a 40 degree angle. Is this the Australian angle or American angle? 40 degrees on Australian equipment is the equivalent to 50 degrees in the US and would be such a sharp angle that the shear could immediately go dull. If this is 40 degree the way we measure it in the US, you may want to try a 45 degree angle which is a sharper angle and may solve her problem. Ask the customer if she slide cuts. If she does she may be feeling dullness in the center that would be corrected with a sharper edge.
4. You may not have pulled a bur up at the center or perhaps your rideline is missing at the center or “belly” of the blade. Check the shears closely. You could have sharpened the correctly and she tossed them in a drawer and nicked them right after you left. If you have either of the problems the only choice is to do a complete resharpening, although you may be able to start with a 15 micron instead of a 30 micron. Always test a shear on a single ply wet tissue with a minimum of pressure SLOWLY closing the blade. The shear should cut this cleanly and with little effort.
5. If you did not test them before you left by cutting with them and they felt sharp and “looked good” as you said, the blades may be out of alignment. This is often due to dropping. Correction of this problem is beyond the scope of this email, runs a risk of breaking the shears and is the worse case scenario. We will have a seminar at the Sharpener’s Jam in July to show how to fix it and a DVD of this seminar available by late August or September. Sometimes a shear that is out of alignment can be sharpened at a duller angle and this may make them cut where they otherwise wouldn’t. Do this one blade at a time. If you think they are out of alignment and you don’t want to risk trying to fix them, refund her money and tell her what is wrong with her shear and suggest that she buy a new one.

This is a longer article of the shortened version published April 2009 in On the Edge.