SCISSOR SHARPENING MACHINES...NOT CREATED EQUAL

SCISSOR SHARPENING MACHINES... NOT CREATED EQUAL!!!
copyright 2010 Xzacta Shears LLC all rights reserved

Let me began by saying that there are many very well made scissor sharpening machines. In fact, I would go so far as to say that most scissor sharpening machines are indeed very well-made. And, one can even gets scissors sharp with most of these machines. And, one can even get scissors sharp by hand honing. The problem lies in the fact that nearly all of these scissor sharpening machines, and even hand honing, incorporated with improper training,, and methods do not and cannot duplicate factory or manufactured specifications. The Xzacta Shears Ultimate Scissors Sharpening Machines and/or Systems can and does duplicate factory manufactured specifications. I was a working hair stylist for 34 years and began learning how to sharpen scissors about 1990 after becoming thoroughly disgusted with results from professional scissor sharpeners. I have previously invested in two different professional scissor sharpening machines only to be disappointed with results. All this eventually led to the invention of the patent pending Xzacta Shears Scissors Sharpening Guide Machine. Please read History at WWW. XZACTASHEARS.COM Very honestly, if I could not use my system, I would not be a scissor sharpener. The Xzacta system goes far beyond the machines and incorporates some very unique techniques to the industry, all of which result in very sharp scissors and honor factory manufactured specifications. Allow me to explain some of the differences.

1. I'm not even going to talk about grinders. In my opinion they should be banned from salons and buried with the dinosaurs. If you are stylist, let me warn you that these scissor sharpeners that take your shears out to a van are nearly always using a grinder. Please go out and check to see what they are using. Don't believe what they tell you.

2. There is one way, and one way only, to remove an even amount of metal from a scissor blade. This is done by sharpening on the outside edge of the pad on a flat hone machine, or water hone as some call it. To my knowledge, there are only two companies teach this and have machines that are designed to do this. The Xzacta Shears Scissors Sharpening Machines/System is intentionally designed for this method and all Xzacta technicians are instructed that this is the only way to sharpen salon scissors. The other machine has an 800 mm guide bar and changes the sharpening angle along the blade if the scissor does not have an 800 mm radius. The more the scissor blade varies from an 800 mm radius, the more it will change the angle on the blade. This is not acceptable. There are many, many scissors that are not manufactured with this radius. This scissor sharpening machine absolutely will not restore an 800 mm radius on its own. I know because I was a distributor for this company for a brief amount of time and I, like many others, lost a lot of money. This company actually borrowed the idea for their patented machine from the Japanese. Unfortunately, in the real world, most scissors manufactured with an 800 mm radius are destroyed by improper scissor sharpening. The Xzacta Shears Sharpening Systems consistently honors factory manufactured specifications. It basically uses a lathe technology and will follow any radius unless changed at the digression of the Xzacta Scissor Technician. Altering the radius on a pair of scissors is not usually advisable as demonstrated in the YouTube video. Xzacta saves, we do not restore! Metal does not grow back like hair... savvy.

On the other machines/systems that teach to lay the scissor blade flat on the hone, there is still a very inconsistent and an uneven amount of metal removal. This is because the pad travels at a faster speed as you move from the center to the outside edge of the pad. Again I stress that the only way to begin to remove an even amount of metal from the scissor blade is to sharpen using only the outside edge of the pad. Xzacta delivers consistent results. If you are a hair stylist, the other sharpening machines/systems are slowly to quickly destroying the factory manufactured specifications on your shears and substantially decreasing the serviceable life. Unfortunately much of the so-called factory sharpening falls in the same boat. You're scissors very rarely actually go back to the factory. They go to some sharpening facility. I sharpen scissors over again very frequently that have just come back from factory sharpening. And I'm talking about high-end and very well known scissor brands. What else can I say?

3. THE CONVEXED or JAPANESE STYLE SHEARS: This is the type of edge that is manufactured on most shears sold today. It is also known as "hamaguri" or clam shell, or I sometimes refer to it as looking like an airplane wing. All of the other companies that I know about start the scissor sharpening process with beveled movements using pretty coarse pads such as a 40 µ or coarser. This is just wrong!! It removes a very unnecessary amount of metal. They then come back and attempt to restore the convex edge with finer grits. Unfortunately the final results of this unfortunate procedure is usually nothing more than a polished off beveled edge. Yes and I'm talking about the flat hone machines. In this case they are nothing more than glorified grinders. As you can well imagine I am extremely popular among my competitors. But as I say, Xzacta Shears is the competition! We start with convexed movements and we end that way... the results... no surprise... a sharp polished convexed edge that looks like, and is like, factory manufactured specifications. I hope you are starting to see the difference between the Xzacta Shears Scissors Sharpening Machines/systems and everyone else.

4. XZACTA RIDE HONING PLATE: A scissor blade has a slight curvature. I'm not talking about radius now. I'm talking about the area where the two scissor blades engage each other. This is called the ride. The area along the cutting edge is called the ride line. For years in the United States, scissor sharpeners have been using flat stones to hone the ride which is curved. They attempt to force the scissor blade into a flat position on the stone resulting in excessive removal of metal towards the tip, and many times not even engaging the midsection of the scissor blade. The ride line of most scissors from the factory actually has a slight manufactured angle. If this is done correctly, it will be microscopic and not visible to the human eye or with a magnifier. Of cheaper shears the angle will be obvious and result in what hair stylists call crunchy when cutting. The stones will flatten the ride line resulting in the engagement of the cutting edges of the blades. This will result in quick dulling, nicks, and or folding over of the cutting edges. Keep in mind that the cutting of hair is actually done ahead of where the scissor blades engage. We use micron pads that have a slight cushioning effect resulting in a microscopic angle on the ride line. The results are nothing short of amazing.

The Xzacta Ride Honing Plate has a machined curvature to closely duplicate that of most scissor blades. This is another one of the major differences between the Xzacta Scissor Sharpening System and the others. I always wondered why no one had done this before. Shortly after doing the YouTube video on the subject I've learned that actually the Japanese had probably done something slightly similar about more than 20 years ago. I have not seen it, but it was supposedly a stone coated with diamond. My plate is machined from aluminum and interchangeable micron pads are used attached by the surface tension of water. The pads along with the water provide cushioning and create the necessary microscopic angle on the ride line. The finest pad is .3 µ and gives a very highly polished mirror finish. The scissor sharpening results are just absolutely outstanding.

SUMMARY: there's just only one way to go, and that is with the Xzacta Ultimate Scissor Sharpening System. Please feel free to call me at 352 -- 690 -- 9817 or e-mail at sales@xzactashears.com Visit http://www.xzactashears.com for more detailed information.
thanks for your time,
Ryan Parrish
Xzacta Shears LLC
copyright 2010 Xzacta Shears all rights reserved. This may not be copied or transmitted in part or in whole.