On Sun, 21 Jun 2020 20:57:04 +0100, Harry Bloomfield, Esq.
wrote:

Lee Nowell used his keyboard to write :
Thanks all. So are the front edges of the 2 steel plates supposed to be
sharp? Mine are definitely blunt if that is the case.

They do not cut at the front, they only cut once hair gets between the
teeth. The very front the leading edge of the blades are supposed to be
blunt otherwise they would cut your skin.

The flat faces, where the teeth are, are the only bits which might need
sharpening and only after a lot of use. To some extent they will self
sharpen in use, but to sharpen they need to be rubbed on a fine flat
abrasive surface.

And the feel for that is only something you get when you have done it
successfully at least once.

With (say) fine wet and dry on a very flat surface (a bit of glass or
stone worktop, often flatter than a used sharpening stone ...) with a
drop of light oil on it and the job held down with even pressure and
moved in a variety of movements, you can soon start to see the high
spots being flattened. Then, often after quite some time ... you will
see the effect across the whole of the surface, then it's a matter of
if you still have to go further or if that was enough to do the trick
(because it might have not been done well in the first place if they
were cheap).

I have often (casually) sharpened people scissors / garden shears with
the diamond stone on my Leatherman and that generally starts by
dressing / flattening the mating faces to remove any, lumps, nicks or
burrs and I might sweep the other faces a couple of times just to
brighten them up. If I want to do a better job and can get the pivot
screw out, I'll do the whole of both inner faces, as stuff between the
blades at the pivot area can also hold the blades apart.

Cheers, T i m