A New Method of Sharpening

I wanted to share with all you Scimech Shear Sharpeners who sharpen on the side a new grip on the Scimech clamp.... it's the Johnny Cash Grip.

We came up with this name not because the hold is as bright and simple as music in the country, but because a new sharpener named Johnny Cash cam up with this hand positioning.

When Johnny came for sharpening training, yes I admit, I was perturbed that he had not watched my fabulous collection of DVD's. He tested out as I expected as a hands-on learner so I let him jump right into sharpening rather than demonstrating. He grabbed the Scimech, repositioned it and came up with this hand positioning. (See the new position followed by the old position)

The Johnny Cash grip takes care of the one drawback of side sharpening over upright sharpening. Side sharpening can be slower because it is harder to see the burr come up on the edge. When positioned like the picture and the light is brought down close to the wheel, it is easy to see the nicks disappear and the burr come up speeding up sharpening. I tried this grip at the Bronner Show. With my arthritic hands, I found this position not only easy on my hands but a faster method. I normally don't sharpen at shows because the arthritis in my thumbs slows me down. I was able to easily keep up with the steady sharpening. I had to modify Johnny's grip. My left hand also held the clamp rather than the arm as in the photo but having the plate at nearly right angles to my body was an advantage. One hint, don't sit directly down wind of the wheel unless you want to get dirty. I was dressed up for stage work and stayed relatively clean during my work. I also used a color stain remover from the beauty supply to quickly clean my hands without a trip to the sink. James Lanier uses a pink scented alcohol he buys at Sally to clean his shears and his hands. I haven't tried it yet, but plan to.

It was so nice to have so many Bonika Shears to sharpen at the show. At least 1/2 of the shears we sharpened at the show were Bonika. Bob and Jim sharpened about 4 each and I did the rest. Hardest to sharpen? The Bonika Baby. The blade is so tiny and must be sharp enough for slithering on dry hair, but they must be strong for cutting on dry hair. We didn't sell too many of these because they are out of stock until next week and we didn't promote them. However, I think all the platform artists at the Bronner Show had these shears.

Kuda Workshop Finale

Yesterday the Kuda Workshop wound up. We've already had phone calls from at least one sharpener we met at the workshop and set up some new distributors. Five sharpeners were certified on sharpening Bonika Shears. I'll have their names listed once released by Kuda.



I had a chance to look at the Kuda system and of course I think our Scimech is superior, I was impressed. Everyone who tried to certify sharpening Bonika Shears that used their system passed. I wished their clamp did a full convex rotation like our Scimech but I like the torsional compensation and the cool technological look. The Scimech is a little less complicated and the scissor twist has been addressed in the new method of sharpening I plan to demonstrate at the sharpeners Jam here in Atlanta in July. Our equipment is more ergonomic, especially for those with back or hand problems like arthritist or carpal tunnel. However, in the past I've often told people that if they did not buy the Scimech I would recommend Larry Brook's Hamurguri machine, but I think I will now include Len's Kuda equipment as well.



I was super impressed with Mike Borsch nipper sharpening machine. It is simple, but effective in correcting all type of nipper problems. We will be talking by phone tomorrow about including his machine as part of the equipment line we will be providing to sharpeners. We hope to have me thoroughly trained and ready to sell and train on the machine by the Sharpeners Jam. I was really impressed by Mike's nipper knowledge and plan to dive into his brain and be teach and communicate his knowledge to future nipper sharpeners. The equipment should run less than $1300.00. It would take a little over 200 nippers to pay for the machine at $6.00 each and about 160 at $8.00 each. That is not quite as good as our Scimech Scissor Flathone which breaks even at 116 shears at the going rate of $25.00 per pair sharpening, but if you sharpened 10 nippers per day the equipment would be paid for in just one month. It is also more portable, quieter and cleaner than clipper blade sharpening.