photos of scissors

This might seem an odd thing to blog about but, given I have a surprisingly large scissor collection, I thought I'd write about it. This came about because of a conversation the other day about the wrong scissors for a task. I needed to cut yarn, and the scissors that were available were gummed up from having opened many boxes packed with tape. I'm not even sure these scissors were ever meant for yarn to begin with, they may have just been paper scissors.



When I was growing up, we had two sets of scissors in our house. One was for sewing (and thus, we children were not allowed to use them) and the other were for everything else. Years later as a young adult, I was lured by dollar signs into the stupid job of selling knives, where they sell you your demo kit for half price. It's a pretty good set of knives as knives go, and the schtick with the scissors was to cut around a penny to make it into a corkscrew, thus demonstrating the strength of the scissors.

I have also been cutting hair, mine and that of friends and family, for about 20 years. Everyone knows you need special hair cutting scissors. I had a favourite pair that lasted me a good many years, then I lost them one night when our department at school was having a pub crawl with matching T-shirts. There was an image on the T-shirts that was offensive to me so I just cut it out. Then, because alcohol was involved, I accidentally left my beloved hair-cutting scissors that had come with me to Korea and Japan in that stupid bar that I will probably never set foot in again. Alas. So featured here is my first pair of sewing scissors. Dan bought them for me when I learned how to sew on a machine, just a couple of years ago. (Even though I took home ec in grade 8, my mother refused to let us use her machine. I blame her for my lack of skill in this area!). I try to use these scissors only for fabric and thread, but occasionally they also get used for yarn. And that's okay.


This is the super-duper penny-cutting pair of Cutco scissors. These have many purposes and live in the kitchen. They have been known to cut paper, chives, vegetables, yarn, cardboard, and all manner of thing. They come apart, can go in the dishwasher, and cost $85 in 1994.


These are cheap crappy paper scissors that came in a set of three for $5 at Zellers, I think. These are used primarily for paper and, in a pinch, yarn.


Okay while they are not technically scissors, these hang out in the kitchen also because they are used for harvesting herbs. And sometimes for cutting yarn. (See a theme here?)


The follow-up to having lost my beloved hair cutting scissors is featured in this photo. While Dan & I were on our honeymoon last year (road trip through 10 western states), we had a need to cut hair (I don't actually remember the circumstance). I think these were purchased at Walgreens. They are great but not as good as my old pair. My old pair could be used with both right and left hands (which is useful if you are, as my sister would say, 'bihandual'). I cut my own hair usually, haven't been to a salon in a year and a half. I've been cutting my own bangs for years too, hence the need for hair cutting scissors. Sometimes, (you know what's coming) I use them for cutting yarn.


Now these little babies ended up in my possession through no devices of mine. A couple of years ago, I offered up my hair-cutting services for a political demonstration a friend was putting on. I forget the symbolism behind the cutting of hair and I wasn't really behind the movement, but I was happy to cut people's hair for a couple of hours. These scissors were brought and then left behind by another hair-cutter, and someone slipped them into my bag. They are great too, though mostly I use them for cutting yarn.

I'm a big believer in using the right tool for the right function. I wouldn't use a wrench as a hammer unless absolutely necessary. I didn't realize just how many sets of scissors I had until I decided to line them all up this morning. Am I weird? Do you have this many scissors? Do you clean and sharpen and tighten your scissors?