Bespoke Cutter And Tailor

Hi Hutch,

I had to drive 45 minutes to pick theres up today. Luckily I could find the time.

The 'bones' are good. Just a bit of rust and grime.  The edge is still shiny.

Havn't had a chance to reveal the signage yet. Its certainly Wiss though and its 13".

G

Hope they clean up nicely

I am certain they will. I'll post the upgraded photos then.

G

Both blade lengths added together is the real length, providing they are the same.
Handle lengths don't count, since they don't cut.

That's actually incorrect. Shears are actually measured from tips diagonally to the back of the thumb bow. Cut length is factored a little less than the blades actual cutting surface.

Graham,

Rough guess is they are a pair of Wiss shears made in the 1950s from the hinge nuts. Clean them up and sharpen them properly and they should work really well.

I have wanted this model for years! :)

it must be very precious pair of shears, it makes you all excited. Would it be priced as it is an antique or a collectible, I am curious when I saw a member mentioned he found a pair of shear from ebay, and it was priced about a hundred dollars. what would it be when it was brand new ? Do you need a professional person to do the sharpening?

Mysewingpleasure,

Here is a modern comparison:

https://www.whiteley.co.uk/store/craft/exo-gold/

or

https://www.whiteley.co.uk/store/craft/wilkinson-exo-silver/

G

Woow, I went to link, and explore all the cutting tools. The gold one is a golden dream!

I am interested in how the curved threadclips works. its description is that "Designed to hang from your third finger as you sew, these thread snips leave the rest of your hand free to manage the needle and thread."

The other one is the buttonhole scissors, why there are a square notches in each blade and how does the adjustable screw function? I went to youtube and found one, by Kenneth, unfortunately, he did not show how it works.

The ring clippers are indeed very handy. You keep them in your palm when sewing so you don´t have to grab a sisscor every time. I always use it  when sewing buttons to shirts or sewing in the thread ends. Speeds up the process significantely.

The buttonhole scissors are also quite handy. With the screw you can determin the length of the buttonhole to be cut, so when you do several buttonholes, all will have the same length. The corners of the blades enable you to cut the hole in the middle of the cloth. You place the corners at one end of the buttonhole so the fabric between buttonhole and edge rests in the cut out area of the scissors, so it won´t be cut.

Peterle,  I would really like to own a pair of the buttonhole scissors. however, after reading your explanation, I still cannot catch your meaning, I cannot imagine and figure out how the corners do the cutting. it is an alien from another planet (if there actually is one) to me.

Nice Wiss shears! :)

That reminds me - I have a nice old pair of buttonhole scissors sitting in one of my workbench drawers. I completely forgot about them.

Do the smaller dressmaker's shears ever have large bolts? I have a pair of "big bolt" dressmaker's shears made by Singer in West Germany. I had Ernest Wright refurbish them a while back, as they fit my hand beautifully. They're now such a joy to use but I've never seen another pair like them. (My hands are too small to handle larger shears!)

Sadly, I do not know how to use them, I think it will be a great help if you need to make a lot of buttonholes. 

I have an old pair, but I am much happier with a chisel, hammer and punch.

Graham,

Have you found the model number yet. Usually stamped on the inside of the hinge. They look like a 5N but being made in the 1950s, it may have a different number on it.

Hi Hutch the number was 4.

They are being sharpened at the moment.

I wanted to ask you if there was a special paint for the handles?

G

Is it a japanned finish?

You can have any colour, so long as it is Black!

That is a good suggestion Futura.

What do you think Hutch?

Happy to help! :)

When I handed my shear collection over to Ernest Wright for refurbishing a while back, they offered to redo the finish on one pair's handles and referred to it as japanning.

I wonder if the term might be used broadly. Some of the images that come up as being japanned don't look the same. Interesting. Do let me know what you use to redo the handles!

Graham, use a 2 pack polyeurothane, a very good match for new black Japan but far more robust. Don't pain over the old stuff, scrape it all off and scrub it up as smooth as you can get it as it looks so much better that way. The later 4N shears are very good, excellent hard blades and good blade geometry. Your great grand kids will be able to open tin cans with them.  ;D

Ok, I hope you won't be cross.  My toolmaker friend advised me to soak the parts in weak acetic acid (yes, vinegar), they were quite rusted.  2 days later scrubbed all the residue off, they look good: nice straight blaes, not very much pitting.  Then I took them to Butlers. He is a good worker, I discussed not removing too much steel.  He has declined from Hollow grinding them, but polished up the blade edges.  They cut well though the edges have moderate pitting still.  That leaves me the option of getting him to hollow grind when the thing eventually gives me the pip.

Do you have any thoughts?

Ps thanks for the background on the model No.

G

The basic are that if they do the job you want, that is all you need. If the inside faces polished up OK, you don't need to hollow grind them, its mainly if the blade faces are badly pitted that you need to do that. Just be careful with the soaking them in acetic acid, you must fully neutralise them after to avoid further corrosion.

Yes, I did a final soak in bicarb. Thoroughly rinsed in water, hand and air dried and dressed in light machine oil.

My toolmaker friend  says that If you time it right you can open up the rust matix and fill it in with oil.

It's a bit late but I will post some photos tomorrow.

G

Here are the Wiss N4 shears I showed above.  Sharpened but with minimal other shaping - yet. Not until they are too uncomfortable to use.


(https://i.postimg.cc/DSvq8k3P/DSCN5209.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/DSvq8k3P)

(https://i.postimg.cc/H8mrRXp9/DSCN5211.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/H8mrRXp9)

(https://i.postimg.cc/p5BmHrrb/DSCN5212.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/p5BmHrrb)

They have shaped up well, as long as they cut the way you want, there is little reason to do much more (apart from lubricating the hinge).  ;D