Sharpening

[Futura]

I'm at a loss as to where I can take shears to be sharpened. I used to bring everything up to Ernest Wright, but now I'm in the US.

The local craft and fabric shops have regularly scheduled sharpening professionals. (Maybe not so regular now due to COVID-19.) I've walked past them a few times before while shopping but I'm not fully convinced I want to trust them with my best vintage shears. Their schedules also conflict with work hours...

Any advice on reputable sharpening services? Are any mail order places decent? Could I do any maintenance on my shears myself?

(I bought a really cheap pair of new old stock home dressmaking shears made in Japan. I'm not sure why - I have plenty of serious tools for real work! I guess morbid curiosity and pity for them left unopened with their sadly shoddy but cheerful little blue handles. How bad are they? I'm curious if they will amount to anything other than decoration or paperweights.  I can't really make them any worse.)

[hutch--]

Trick would be to take a junk pair to a sharpener and see how well they are sharpened. I would not risk an old rare pair unless you are very sure of the person. For valuable shears I would be inclined to see how they do the work and if they are any good, don't be afraid to pay for it. The $5.00 resharpen is about the five bucks, pay a bit more and it may be about getting you a good result.

[theresa in tucson]

Check out Westpfal Henry and Company.  They are in New York City.  I looked them up on-line but their phone number is (212) 563-5990.  I know you can send Gingher shears to them for sharpening but they only sharpen Ginghers.

[jeffrey]

Please don't use Westpfal  to sharpen your shears. They are not what they used to be. I had my shears sharpened by them back in the early 1980's and they did a great job. Because of that I brought them back to be sharpened 2 years ago and they ground off so much of the blade that none of my shears are useable. As of 2 years ago they were sharpening all brands of scissors but that may have changed. If you need to have Gingher scissors sharpened you can send them back to Gingher and they will sharpen them for $15 usd.

[theresa in tucson]

Ouch!  Thanks for the review Jeffrey, I will now dump my bookmark and withdraw the recommendation.

I did have good luck with my local sharpening service.  The old guy who owned the knife store (Blade Runner) retired and sold out to a youngster.  The old guy only did knives but the youngster does scissors.  I took him two sets, a Gingher pair with a bad spot and a yucky pair of desk scissors.  He knows his stuff and repaired the Ginghers.  He was up-front with me on the desk scissors and said they could only be brought back so far but for paper scissors so far was far enough.