The National Beauty Tools Sharpening Guild was held in St. Louis this last week-end. It was the first meeting of this group developed by Larry Brooks. I was very impressed with the work Larry and his family put into making this a successful meeting for sharpeners. The vendor room had 9 scissor brands and 6 vendors selling scissor sharpening equipment and 3 clipper-sharpening machines. It was great for prospective sharpeners to compare all the machines in one room and for those who wanted to upgrade their equipment. We received many compliments from the sharpeners who looked at the Scimech for the first time. Frank Davis was there with us and was able to explain some of his internal design features that account for the Scimech. The presentations by Larry, which included the NTBSG supporters like myself, were well prepared, and in depth. Check out the photos of his PowerPoint presentation.
I was thoroughly impressed with the certification process. The sharpeners were given a number that matched the sealed double hidden number on the bottom of their bag. The shears were damaged equally. I actually looked at a set of the damaged shears… a thinner, a convex and a bevel. If I were given these in a salon, I wouldn’t hesitate to fix them. They were all challenging but reasonable damage. All the participants set up their sharpening either in the meeting room or in their vans with monitors. Bumpers and parts were provided for the repairs. Afterwards the judging lasted throughout the night as each shear was tested, inspected and rated. I was able to go in and see the actual sharpening and the judging and took photos. Larry wanted to be very transparent in his methods so that no one could be accused of partiality in the process. In the end, Ian from Australia had the most points, which leads me to believe that Larry should change the name of the NBTSG by dropping the N. Unless an organization’s acronym spells out a word, I don’t think anyone can remember a group name longer than 4 letters.
The dinner cruise on the riverboat was a nice touch and most of us participated. Another great place we found to eat was the Bandana Barbeque restaurant. We went with Sun and Dong of Hanoko Shears. They were able to experience boiled peanuts for the first time. See all the photos
I was thoroughly impressed with the certification process. The sharpeners were given a number that matched the sealed double hidden number on the bottom of their bag. The shears were damaged equally. I actually looked at a set of the damaged shears… a thinner, a convex and a bevel. If I were given these in a salon, I wouldn’t hesitate to fix them. They were all challenging but reasonable damage. All the participants set up their sharpening either in the meeting room or in their vans with monitors. Bumpers and parts were provided for the repairs. Afterwards the judging lasted throughout the night as each shear was tested, inspected and rated. I was able to go in and see the actual sharpening and the judging and took photos. Larry wanted to be very transparent in his methods so that no one could be accused of partiality in the process. In the end, Ian from Australia had the most points, which leads me to believe that Larry should change the name of the NBTSG by dropping the N. Unless an organization’s acronym spells out a word, I don’t think anyone can remember a group name longer than 4 letters.
The dinner cruise on the riverboat was a nice touch and most of us participated. Another great place we found to eat was the Bandana Barbeque restaurant. We went with Sun and Dong of Hanoko Shears. They were able to experience boiled peanuts for the first time. See all the photos
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