Excerpt from the Hollow and the Honelecture by Casper Kiser Oster / Eickertat the 2010 Sharpeners Jam

Click screen to play short 8 minute video.

Excerpt from our new 2 part DVD. This is the most complete video presentation of the complexities of shear manufacture and function made to date. This 2 DVD set, each part 50 minutes will explore with clear illustrations the
honed and non-honed shears and how and why they are made and sharpened differently
the "twist" in shears, what it is and what it isn't
the importance of the hollow grind and how it affects the performance of shears
what correct and in-correct honing looks like and how it affects the cut
angle selection, the pros and cons of sharp vs strong edges
how and why shears are put back into correct alignment
and much, much more.This is one of those videos you will watch over and over and learn something new each time. This is an essential part of every scissor sharpeners library. You will have a new appreciation for the complexity of the beauty and groomer shears.Casper Kiser is the plant floor supervisor in McMinnville, TN for the Oster factory. He has had over 15 years experience in the manufacture of beauty and groomer shears with the Arius Eickert company. This lecture was presented to sharpeners at the 2010 Sharpeners Jam in Atlanta, GA. Here their questions and comments as Casper clearly shares with a small select group of sharpeners his years of experience. Call 1-888-290-3393 to order this DVD set or order from our website http://www.beautystoreworld.net/vhh.html (Use ID: sharpener Password: Guest)

Private Factory Tour at Oster

Last Monday on our way back from the Nashville Sharpeners Workshop we had a stop in McMinnville, TN. It is rare to get a tour through the Oster facilities and we were delighted when Casper Kizer graciously extended an invitation to tour the factories. We have known Cas for over 12 years when he was a sharpener at the Arius Eickert plant in Ohio. At the time, Eickert was private labeling several of our popular shears including the ProMaster and the currently discontinued International Twister.

Since Oster purchased Eickert they have moved the scissor making factory into their clipper factory, making Cas the manager of the scissor factory section. Not everything was in place, but we were super impressed with what we saw. Their factory was very different than some of the videos we had viewed about overseas operations. Most workers I talked to had been with Oster for 20+. Every step in the scissor making operation had a check before it was allowed to move on to the next phase. Cas showed me a large rack of their reject scissors. Nothing was allowed out except the best of the best. (Note: Many of the Arius Eickert and Oster scissors are imported. However, their top-of-the-line shears are made with pride at the North Carolina plant.)

Cas gave up his whole morning for us. We not only viewed the scissor making process, but the clipper making, forging, warehouse, shampoo factory and the sharpening / warranty facility. What a morning!

I had a whole list of questions he asked which he answered including: Which is first the bend or the rideline? How is set put into the shears? (His answered floored me!) Is there really a negative angle on the ride of thinners? How is the ride put on the shears? and so forth. I plan to cover these answers at my Scissor Sharpening Boost class a week from Saturday at the Sharpener's Jam.

Unfortunately, Oster would not allow us to take photos in the factory. But in all phases from the Cryo-Freezer to the flathone sharpening system I was as impressed with the skilled, dedicated workers as I was with the modern, efficient machinery. Walking through a USA factory like this, made me proud to be an American.

More about the Class of the Century

Julie Barham and her husband Cory did a great job of putting this class together. This photo is some of the attendees and educators. Photographing stylists is like photographing cats. I will let you know when I hear of the next event this group sponsors. I just uploaded all the photos from this class in Charlotte to Picasa. Educators included Mags Kavanaugh from www.askmags.com fame and Russell Mays from www.hairmaven.com notoriety. Those who follow those sites were like old high school friends meeting at a reunion even though most had never met. We felt like voyeurs into these website families of dedicated hairstylists, but they generously let us in. I can't wait to start following these websites. I have never met such a dedicated group of stylists who are so intense on improving their craft. No one would like down on hair dressers if they sat in on a class like this. They are artists, chemists, merchandisers and business people wrapped up into one package. Jasper helped me with sharpening at the show. He's from Jacksonville, FL and was trained two days before the show. I kept him busy sharpening my "mystery shears" that go on my website and fixing up any nicked sample shears. He sharpened a few shears for free for a student. We came across the infamous Mitzutani Spring Hopper Shear owned by educator Natasha Cohen which I wrote about in a previous blog. I was also able to show him the "semi-convex" edge on an Eickert Shear. I have photos below.

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