Bad Email Advice on Sharpening Scissors | Engels Coach Shop
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I would ruin my scissors if I took this sharpening advice. Sharpening scissors is not mystical once you understand how they work. With just a little practice, you can keep your scissors as sharp as new. Thanks for coming along!
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We've lost a lot skill over time and random information from "thought experiments" have taken over empirical evidence. It's no wonder crackpot ideas get thrown in as real science. I'm 70+ and I remember my mother/seamstress yelling at my father "never, ever use my sewing scissors" to cut out newspaper articles. This has been known this for 100 years at least. Seeing you fix those scissors so quickly was excellent!
I worked as a remodeling contractor and one day caught a fellow worker using my crosscut handsaw to trim the drywall out of a door opening. His defense was, "Cutting drywall actually sharpens a saw." I called him an idiot and kept my tools close after that...
I guess he was a bit dull. 😊
I'm assuming you found somewhere to hide the body..?
@@davidquirk8097 Cutting bodies sharpens the saw.
Eh....... yes, behind some drywall
I wonder...... An 8.5 x11 sheet of sand paper is too big. Hey.....I can cut it into 4 squares with my scissors! I was going to sharpen them anyway! 🤔🤦🫤😮🤣
Watching you cut sandpaper was painful. Thank you for reclaiming the edge, I would have lost sleep if you didn't :)
The man restores wagons that most people would have thrown on the burning pile and sent to the remaining iron off for recycle. He's done this for a living. There is no way he wouldn't sharpen a dull pair of scissors.
I worked with a salesman and needed to cut something so he handed me his penknife, it was so sharp that you could shave with it. I asked him where he learned to sharpen knives, and he told me that he had worked at Hormel for a couple of years and the only thing that he learned there worth knowing was how to sharpen a knife .
P T Barnum's favorite saying: "There's a sucker born every minute" sure fits!
P.T. Barnum didn't make that statement. A fellow circus worker did, but you're right.
@@sdmerrick2688 Sorry about the misquote.
Finally someone has actually shown us the best way to sharpen scissors. Thanks!
In the end we got a good instruction on how to sharpen scissors. Thanks Dave for setting the record straight.
You're smart if you listen to only half of what you hear, and a genius if you know which half to listen to.
An old saying - Don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.
Lol....are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?
And that's a good piece of advise
I start out with skeptical eyes out for both first
These days you can't believe anything you see or hear. AI is only going to make it worse. I recently saw a chicken working an egg like soccer players work with a soccer ball. That has to be real, right!
My wife is a quilter, I maintain the cutting edge on her shears in the same manner you do and she is my happiest client.
You have reminded me of the section that copied giant engineering drawings where I worked. They were up to 20 feet long, but they only had to cut to length, which was about 6'. The material was fairly thick Mylar and they cut it by starting the cut in the normal way with big scissors, and when the cut had started, just push through. This eventually wore groves in the scissors, and there was no way to sharpen them eventually, so they got through a few in an average year.
Thank you for another commonsense lesson in caring for our tools.
I try to tell my wife to not believe everything on the internet. If it seems too easy it probably doesn’t work. But people just want to believe. Thank you for a great demo. Now come on over here to Georgia and sharpen my 15 + pairs of scissors I have. Lol
This was something I heard of in my youth and I discovered fairly early you can’t always believe everything you hear…even from your educators.
I was taught how to sharpen scissors by the engineer at the family textile mill in Scotland, when I used to help him during school and later university holidays. The mill used a lot of scissors and they were always sent to the engineer for sharpening. We always separated the blades to sharpen if they were not riveted. The worst job was sharpening pinking shears, which give a non-unravelling serrated cut. Each tooth on those had to be sharpened individually. I now use a 400 grit and finish with a 600 grit diamond files to sharpen our household scissors.
This seems like something that was spread about a hundred years ago by some scissors manufacturer. I have heard people claim sharpening scissors by cutting sandpaper many times before, and always asked "how?" No good answer followed. One guy did try to demonstrate it to me, but he started out with a pair that had zero edge to them and had been used to strip copper wire or something. They wouldn't even cut cardboard. After cutting the sandpaper for a bit, it would just barely cut the cardboard, but it was a rough cut that hung up repeatedly. I told him he just mangled the edge enough to tear the cardboard instead of the round dull edge from before folding it. When I said "neither time were those scissors even close to being sharp."
Internet "experts". I have learned to ignore about 99 percent. The young, who already know everything, have to learn that the hard way...but it's OK if they learn...I guess. Love your channel.
Thank you for teaching me how to sharpen my sissors. My dad always kept our knives and sissors sharp but did not like teaching. He had no patience. If you did not get it the first time, then he was done.
My guess is the Sandpaper Guy is Running for OFFICE!! Thanks D & D!!!
No, he’s in office now!
He should be running for the border.
😅
Come on guys can we please the politics off this channel.
Love the sound ur old shears make as it cuts then snips at end of the cut.
Thanks Dave - yet another "super new technique" blown out of the water. One thing I have found is that many new scissors have very poor hinges which allow the blades to part, sometimes it is possible to tighten the hinge, but sometimes it is so badly made that tightening doesn't work. [edit to add] - My late father spent the first few months after leaving school in the sword sharpening shop of Wilkinson's. He could sharpen the most dull blade in just a few minute, on larger blades he would slice a falling sheet of newspaper with no torn edge, just a clean cut.
That is amazing… you got that stone to hold together with Super Glue!
Another important thing about scissors is the tension of the blades. Tension is the overlap of the blades. You can have dead sharp blades, but if they aren't slightly overlapped, they won't cut. This can get mal-adjusted if someone tries to cut something too thick, and it flops over between the blades and spreads them open. Usually a little hand pressure on the work bench is enough to bring them back in,but care must be taken not to add too much or else the edges will clash and ruin them. One final note is that if scissors are sharpened far enough to get down onto the hollow ground portion, they will have to be taken apart and the lands of the pivots will need a little taken off of them so that the blades can once again be close enough to sheer past each other. This would be a much more advanced technique though probably not for the average homeowner. Sometimes scissors are inlaid with tool steel at the edges as well and once they get sharpened past that layer, they are junk anyways. Btw I fell for buying a set of those Gugenheim scissors, and while sharp I was not happy to find they were made in China when they deceivingly advertised they were German craftsman made. I'll stick to my Ginger's for now. A nice set of vintage Wiss inlaid shears are always a winner too. I have several small 10" vintage Wiss tinsnips that I sharpen like scissors razor sharp and they are a treat for cutting thick veg tan soling leather type stuff.
There's videos here of a guy that makes scissors. He's called the putter. It's good stuff. I want his hammer.
Thanks for the information, back in the day I'd grow lots of weed and would buy every different brand of scissors I could find, (I fancied myself a scissors conisour) one pair stood out above literally hundreds, Clauss I assumed they were German and have em to this day, the weed was gone long ago
@@jeffreystroman2811 a pair of Clauss I have are stamped USA Fremont O Wikipedia says, "At one time the company was the largest manufacturer of scissors and shears in the world." The O stands for Ohio. Clauss did make good scissors.
I appreciate you for challenging that theory, and showing us the process to sharpening scissors
i actually inherited quite a few old scissors that i cleaned up & sharpened. I really like having them. Nice old tools.
My uncle was a knife sharpening wizard. Thanks much for the video.
A sharp tool is a wonderful thing. Great video.
I cut sandpaper all the time as a machinist. Any where from 240-1000 mesh. I can confirm that it does not! sharpen them. Most scissors/ shears are “hollow” ground and the cutting edges will just round over the edge.
I cut sandpaper with a knife. It's not the best thing for them. Cutting on the paper side helps. I also have a self healing cutting mat too. They're nice. You can just rip sandpaper on a straight edge too. But I like that nice crisp sharp edge myself.
@@1pcfred I tend to cut with a razor blade on the paper side and fold to separate the two pieces. But I do have a pair of Scissors just for sand paper
I just fold and tear sandpaper. Is there an instance where cutting would be necessary? I'm just a hobbiest painter for my friends who need their house painted
@@12345....... loading a sanding block I do like crisp edges. When you're painting automobiles or finishing fine woodwork quality prep becomes a critical factor. Any blemishes are going to telegraph. You learn to do things a certain way otherwise you're just doing them again until you get it right. When someone brags their custom car has 17 coats of hand rubbed lacquer on it the proper burn response is, What were the first 16, practice?
@@danfarris135 I use a utility knife. I sharpen utility knife blades too. I'll only ever replace a utility knife blade if I manage to break it. Which does happen occasionally. But I've used some utility knife blades for years. I have a problem with the concept of disposable. I wash out and reuse flux brushes.
When I don't have sandpaper to cut for sharpening my scissors, I like to take them to a gravel road, hold them blades and points up, then run up an down the road as fast as I can. When you fall and skid across the gravel, the blades become very sharp. I learned this from the internet!
Now that right there is FUNNY!
Thank you for this video. I have some scissors that need sharpening, and I will give it a go.
I got that same email, evidently, he didn't click the link that said April Fools !
I never tried it, but I have heard of the :trick" 50 years ago.
Yes, I read it as a handy hint in a major women's magazine back in the 1960s, as a teenaged seamstress. It just gouged up the edges of my shears. They were cheap and better to replace, but that was a low trick.
You inspired me to go to the bench and sharpen all my scissors and shears, well almost all, I still have to go through all the metal cutting shears. Cheers, Dan.
Dave this tip is for people that have no clue how sharp sharp is. So they have the dullest, bluntest scissors in the world. That sandpaper trick will sharpen those into serrated shears and they will cut better then before. They won’t cut good, but still better then before :)
My grandfather was a blacksmith, he taught me how to sharpen scissors, knives, drill bits and anything else with a edge on it when I was very young. I had people bring me knives and scissors to sharpen all the time at work. I have a box of drill bits the were thrown away and I would get them and rework them to cut like butter.
"I would get them and rework them to cut like butter" But butter does not cut.
“I would get them and rework them to cut like butter” Yes, but I need them to cut, like, wood or, like, steel. Like, you know?
@@shawbros A figure of speech. But they would cut as good or better than a new bit.
@@mrimmortal1579 They would cut as good or better than a new bit.
@@bobbyhamby4708 Actually that figure of speech usually is "Cut like a knife through butter" or "Cut like a hot knife through butter".
I'm familiar with several KZheadrs that intentionally give bad advice; I guess as a joke. One gives the most insane advice on how to refurbish motorcycles. I'm sure it gets the novice in a lot of trouble. These people don't deserve the air they breathe.
Ah Ichiban Moto. One of my favorite KZhead channels. He's a riot.
@@1pcfred Now you gone and made me watch him😂 Yep…hilarious, but he should be clear it is all a bit ‘tongue in cheek’ or spoof! In case unknowing newbs actually follow the advice…especially as some of it can technically work to some extent, making it seem feasible. His home made torque wrench was comedy gold.
@@contessa.adella Ichiban is a special brand of comedy I can really appreciate. So many DIY people are like it's so easy. Takes next to nothing to do. Moto plays off of that trope. Over the years it's gotten even more germane with all the stupid Tiktok videos. I have no sympathy for anyone that can't figure out it's a joke either.
I heard a similar rumor years ago. Instead of sandpaper, it was aluminum foil.
And steel wool!😅
Aluminum foil has aluminum oxide on it. Aluminum oxide is what they make sandpaper out of. It's really fine aluminum oxide. But it's still aluminum oxide. Any aluminum exposed to oxygen instantly oxidizes. Then that oxide layer protects the rest of the aluminum. Its what's called a passivation layer.
That's why fretting corrosion is so destructive. @@1pcfred
I have seen that recommendation from companies that make dressmaker shears
I used to go around at the company I worked for about once a week to grab the scissors and sharpen the ones that needed it. My boss was a little surprised to find out why the requests for new scissors dropped off so dramatically after I started working for him.
I heard this tale some 50 years ago. My theory is that the shears that were sharpened were so blunt that the only bit that became "sharper" was the edge near the pivot point. And the explanation I gave myself was that near to the pivot point was so rigid that the cutting edge stayed on top of the abrasive material and generated a sherrated edge, but away from the pivot point, the blades begin to separate and the edge is destroyed not restored. I have never carried out a scientific test of this theory, but it satisfies me as plusible as to why. Glad to see some debunk it as a usable method with a practical demostration.
Very much awaited video!. I carve small figures in wood and the subject of sharpening is very important in wood carving. Can you show in a video how to sharpen knives and chisels, Thank you very much
I remember hearing the sandpaper trick years ago when I was a young boy. And that was way before the internet was invented, I questioned it even then. Tried it once and proved it to be wrong.
This is so true. my grandfather was a tailor and never used his good scissors for paper and also taught his daughter to do this. Many of these stories about scissors can be found in many vlogs. My mother also taught me that these scissors should never be used for paper.
Never's a long time and paper needs to get cut too. So just learn how to sharpen scissors. I've sharpened a lot of beat scissors. Even them cheap Chinese ones that don't cut squat when you get them. They cut by the time I'm done with them. I had a pair in a drawer in the kitchen and I tried cutting open a plastic bag with them. They went out in the garage for a bit. They cut plastic bags great now.
Thank you! A very simple and straight-forward demonstration that works!
Paul Sellers "taught me" to draw file a pair of scissors. Very effective, but I'm definitely trying my honing stones next time. Thanks
I was thinking OMG he's not going to use a good pair to test, then, you did. Gave me chills. Modifying a tool to do a job is one thing but deliberately damaging it 'in the interest of science' another. Kudos to you, I would have found a rusty blunt pair for 'testing' (wife and stepdaughter are a bit careless)
Thank you for dispelling this myth from the internet.
Another great video from a man with common sense. Thank You Dave
You mean everything on the Internet isn't true? GASP!!! 😱😱😱
The scissors you used on the sandpaper look like Bonsai Root Pruning shears. They have the large handles and short blades to get leaverage when cutting the roots. When new, if they are like mine, they will have a different blade profile than sewing scissors. When I did my first Bonsai courses the instructor called them Chinese scissors and pointed out the difference. The blades are sharpened straight to the cutting edge, so that in use two very sharp cutting edges pass each other giving a very clean cut. Sewing scissors have two distinct angles on them, and work more by shearing than cutting. Years ago I was also told that trying to cut the top off of a bottle sharpens scissors. I've tried it on blunt scissors found in the office stationery cupboard, and to some extent it gave a slight improvement, probably by smoothing out burrs, but is definitely temporary. Thanks for the videos, these are more than interesting.
The hollow ground geometry of scissor blades is the key element of good cutting scissors. Thank you for the thorough explanation.
I always knew that you are a 'smart' man Dave!
Missed seeing an update on the manure spreader but scissor sharpening has proved extremely useful. I have always struggled with this but no longer. Thanks Dave
Dave, A sheerly delightful lesson on shears! Great video as always!
Thanks for the tutorial, now off to try to sharpen those dull scissors in my shop.
Thank you Dave. God Bless You and Mrs. Enge;s.
Thanks for solving this problem I could not see sandpaper doing that sharpening and the way you file it down with the home is the way I’ve done all my life
I learned to sharpen knives in high school when I worked in a grocery store. I watched the meat cutters sharpening their knives, and asked the oldest meat cutter how to do it. Using a stone and a steel gets the job done and I've been doing it ever since. A dull knife is dangerous.
If you really want something sharp strop. There's even a hack using a rag wheel polisher. To truly understand sharpness you have to understand what's going on at the microscopic level. That's the problem surrounding sharpening. It happens on a dimension we can't easily perceive. Bright is dull and you cannot see a sharp edge. It's so sharp there's nothing for light to reflect off of. The edge is just a black line.
Live my Tormek. Sharpens anything
@@artswri ain't nobody got time for Tormek.
Paper dulls scissors? Hold up-paper covers scissors!
Thanks for shearing this with us! 😉
😅
it unbelievable how many people i have met that ruin good scissors by "sharpening" the shearing face, because they dont understand the basic logic od scissors, this video should be used in schools as instruction for basic cutting practise and understanding blade physics
Very well done as usual. I'm an oldtimer too, and I remember hearing this "cutting sandpaper will sharpen scissors" myth a long time ago. Some myths never die. cheers from a musical instrument maker in Vienna, also a sharpener of scissors, Scott
keeping your scissors clean, is the best way to keep them sharp.
I'm glad you post videos like this Dave, because common sense isn't very common.
Good to know. I've often wondered how to sharpen scissors - now I'm armed with real knowledge. Thank you!
That's one way to do it. There's videos here of people sharpening scissors for cutting hair. It's a rabbit hole to go down. The test there is to cleanly shear wet tissue paper. Which is about as hard as it gets.
Thanks for the scissors sharpening demo. Cheers 🦘🇦🇺👍🙂
A quick way is to use a glass mug handle, and run the scissors in a cutting action along the glass about 6 times. Really works.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. You just explained how to do something that I've been trying to learn all my life! I have a whole drawer in my tool box full of dull and half sharp scissors that I could not get sharp, but refused to throw away. I immensely enjoy your videos, and today learned something that has pestered me for about as long as you've owned that whett stone
I found a great pair of ambidextrous scissors and they stayed sharp about 4 years. So I ground the rivet out of them and matched the angle and sharpened them on my knife sharpener that you actually set the proper angles. I then sharpened in three stages. Takes some time but always leaves the sharpest scissors or knives. I replaced the rivet with a stainless steel sholder screw. A scissors manufacturer most likely put this out so as to be able to sell more scissors.
I never heard of ambidextrous scissors. I've run across left-handed scissors and noticed they're made exactly opposite of "right-handed" ones. The "twisting force" applied to the blades is opposite from one hand to the other, so using "wrong-handed" scissors is near futile.
Thanks so much for busting this "cut sandpaper with scissors to sharpen them" myth. I had never tried it, but it had always sounded stupid to me; I am glad to know that it was indeed a rotten idea.
Thanks for that instruction on how to sharpen scissors! Can you please do a video on how to sharpen chisels? I know there are lots of these videos about out there, but I trust your down to earth experience and knowledge!
Thanks for sharing this video Mr Dave God bless you and your family stay safe ✝️
Thanks for finding that and telling people about it. That was a very good lesson to learn. I hope people were listening. I like diamond stones myself. I have been sharpening for many years.
Dave, Very good advice, I feel the same about sandpaper. I watch all of your videos, I am a Blacksmith so I really enjoy them. Bill Poust
I’m a retired trained Barber. In school we learned how to sharpen a straight razor. You can use the same principle to sharpen a knife or shears. Basically the same as you showed in your video minus the leather strap that we used to smooth the edge of a razor.
Hi Dave, here in the UK the 1st April is known as April Fools Day. This day is a chance for people to take the mickey out of someone. Did you get the email on April 1st?
It's April Fools day in the US too. So, Dave would be aware if it was meant as a joke.
No one is immune to missing a joke
Nah, I've seen this "sharpening advice" on days other than April 1st.
Funny. That's a thought.
Because people believe they right about things that simply don’t make sense. I think the internet / u t are part of the problem. So much wrong stuff gets out there. You (and me, and millions of others) practice things that can’t be faked. That you for showing true ways.
Thanks for this tutorial Dave! I also sharpened a pair of scissors given to me the wrong way, but now I know how to fix it. I also heard people say you must cut a glass bottle neck with your scissors to sharpen it.
I've seen the same recommendation and had the same reaction. However, I didn't bother to test it like you did. Glad to learn that my first reaction was correct. In the past, I've usually just touched up the hollow ground side, but lately I've been doing the thin edge, too. Clearly, the way you've been doing it is the right way, but it's harder, because it's more nuanced.
Excellent tutorial!💡 After all these years, I finally know why I could never really get my shears properly sharp. I made the mistake of doing light passes on the flat side to deburr after doing the bevel. With a diamond whetstone, that's enough to knock back the shear edge I had just put on. DOH! 😳 Well, an old dog just learned a new trick. 😎👍
I was so relieved when you said you were not going to sharpen your new sheers and the two older pairs. I too like a sharp knife, chisel, plane iron, or pair of scissors and I have learned how to maintain them. Easier to work with and safer to use.
Almost choked on my breakfast laughing when I came to the part about cutting sandpaper to sharpen scissors.
I just this past weekend sharpened all of my (mostly circa-1960s) Wiss shears. One pair, recently acquired, was in such poor shape and had such a gap between parts of the blades that I had to take the pivot screw out and flatten them on some diamond stones almost like I was dealing with a pair of new plane irons. After that I just sharpened as per usual. As you might expect, they work wonderfully well now!
I have a few pairs of blunt scissors. This afternoon they'll be sharp. Great advice. Thank you.
my Father-In-Law swore by Arkansas Oil Stone to sharpen his tools. We have his flat stone and the tubular shaped stone that he sharpened the edge of his scythe when cutting wheat or weeds.
Natural stones were great when steel wasn't alloys. Modern steel can be a lot harder than the old time stuff was. Today I don't even waste my time with natural stones. I just use diamonds and ceramics. That cuts anything. A round stone is called a slip stone.
@@1pcfred Pop's slip stone has been well used. When his storage building burned we found at least a dozen well-used scythes. Quite a "LONG STEP" from the 50 ft. grain tables on combines today.
@@bigun447 at the turn of the 20th century if you wanted to eat you'd be out in the fields sun up to sun down working. Otherwise you just might not. You and over half the population. It's just what folks did then. Over 52% of the population was engaged in agricultural activities. Today it's less than 2% That's how long the step has been.
I usually sharpen them by passing them through the spout of a glass bottle..., as if I wanted to cut the bottle in half from the spout to the bottom but making the "cutting" movement on the angular side of the edge and not on the flat side of the blade...,✂️ I have always done it this way and it has worked for me, both with the scissors and crafts and the medium and heavy duty ones that I use in the workshop..! Greetings from Ecuador 🇪🇨👍🏻
Us old timers who have been using scissors over many years, have learned how to sharpen them out of necessity. They used to be prized possessions and rather expensive to buy new, so sharpening was the way to go, The factors the enter into a scissors that will cut are: the edges of the blades, the condition of their back sides and the amount of tension on the screw that hold them together. All 3 must be in proper relationship for them to work correctly. We all know a flat, polished metal edge will reflect light, where a knife edge that comes to a sharp angle/apex will not. So, be refreshing that edge back to the factory angle is the way to make them sharp and cutting like new. Some scissor's back sides are flat and others are convex, so a stroke or two over the stone will eliminate any burrs on those. Make certain the screw is seated and tight so the edges will cross each other without deflecting. There you have it, my "theory" of sharpening scissors after 50 years.
Found my old whetstone and did as you indicated. Only took about 10 swipes each and wow what a difference!
The proof is always in the results.😮
Have read/heard of that technique before, but never held much stock in it. Glad to see you call it out.
That comes from a Sharp mind!
😅
I am guessing that you received the first part of their email marketing campaign. The second part would be "now that all of your scissors are dull, you can buy our scissor sharpening system with a 1x30 belt sander and a tormec style wheel system".
My dad would say “ don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see” I think that’s a good philosophy to live by , more so with the internet.
thanks for the tip , i sharpened a lot of scissors and knives when i was metal polishing .terry .
I agree Dave, love those early spring meadow larks. Great tutorial on scissor sharpening and snake oil salesmen.
Or in this case, scissor salesmen!
I was told to use the neck of a glass jar to sharpen scissors. Works for me.
There's never been a better place to find wrong information than the internet.
Haha, wow that was a little difficult to watch. I have a dedicated pair for cutting sandpaper if I have to(very rarely) but yes it wipes them out. I also learned at a very young age to sharpen pocket knives. And still have the oil stones I had in college. (43) years for me. At family gatherings I am the official knife sharpener. Thanks again.
My daughter came home from school one day and in our conversation she mentioned that her teacher had told her that when a parachutist pulls their chute they stop going down and go up. I could see how some people may think this when you see videos of them seeming to rise whilst the camera man continues down at a their original rate. Took me some time to convince her the teacher was wrong or my daughter had heard it wrong. I finally convinced her it was not true when I took her into the garden and asked her why she could not see all the parachutists in the sky still going up. I must confess however that the other week I had her convinced that the huge C-5 Galaxy planes were used to remove the rain from clouds by sucking the clouds in at the front of the engine, drying the water from the cloud into huge water tanks inside the plane and them blowing the dried cloud back out the exhaust.
The original poster of that 'sandpaper sharpening' video might own a scissor factory......... " Hey ! sales are up !"
I can't say I learnt anything new but it was a nice soothing watch anyway...
So true, if you examine how the two edges cut you will soon see how sand paper is a bad idea. Back in the day, some still today, there are people who make a living sharpening knives, scissors, blades etc. NONE of them used sandpaper the way this email does. Most of them used whetstones and cardboard on a bench grinder or leather for the final "strop" edge.
I have three pair of the Wiss shears like your large ones. One is a pair my Mom has had longer than I've been alive (70 years). Two I used 50 years ago when I worked in a furniture factory. I sharpen them with an Arkansas stone, only on the thin bevel surface of each blade. You can shave with them. I'd never cut anything more abrasive than a sheet of typing paper or light cardboard (cereal box) with them. I sharpened a pair of tin snips for most of my rough cutting, they give lots of leverage for thick material and you can get a pretty good edge on them.