pinking shears sharpening? (US)

I've been sewing for over 40 years: you never ever grow out of stabbing fingers. Get used to it! ;)

Yes - he replies when we ask! :) And the scissor man has promised to do the same, so we are all winners! :)

snip

to be asking questions from you folks !

I did, I will. Just worried what the customers think who come in to pick up scissors/knives with blood on them ;)

Dankah Schoen !

btw, "Troll Chocolate Pudding" sounds good, but fattening. I can feel my DSL line clogging with cholester-troll !

At least you can wipe them! Blood on a wedding dress is a tad more difficult...

lol ! You just conjured up a wicked image...

btw, what would you use to get blood out of clothing ? Seriously, not being morbid, but does seltzer really work, or would that mess things up even more ?

I am one who is glad to see someone who can sharpen pinking shears and scissors (only wish this came up sooner)

I just got burned $34.00 for sending 4 scissors and 1 pinking shear to someone for shaping in another state.

To make matters worse, I called Fiskars to ask about who to send them too, They, told me to send my scissors to him,. (all of mine are the softouch)

Mine came back dirty,( with white stuff on them) not cleaned or anything, not packaged well at all, They sent back to me with my scissors threw into package box on there own with no peanuts or paper !!

I sent them in with peanuts, and peanuts on the tips ( no telling what happened to my box)

I had to pay shipping to and from ($12)

One pair one wasn't even sharpened and will not even cut a thread.

He did call me to say one could not be sharpened, but I found one of the small ones I sent one wasn't even sharpened. They are better, but I have dull spots on them. Esp. towards the back, so I still cannot take a full cut of fabric.

NO refund, but only a credit for one pair, if I wanted to send more to him! Ha I think not!

I did not call him back after I received them back and let him know, what good would it do if I did?

Your prices are cheaper!

I paid $6 per pair, $8 for pinking and two where the small scissors!

Now if I wasn't feeling so Mad, I would try your service.

"Village Sharpener" wrote >

Sorry to hear about that. Often, I have to do "damage control". Have heard your complaint too often and when someone brings in a pair to be sharpened, I usually do them on the spot and ask them what they primarily cut. Then I go into the bin (or the tailor shop across the hall) and try various bits of fabric or otherwise. If the customer is not happy, I don't charge them. If they can't be sharpened, I give them a pair of the thousands of airport seizures I have. It's like handing out a functional business card !

Now if they leave items for me to sharpen (Knives or Scissors), I always ask if they need a loaner (free of charge). Makes for good business and they tell their friends.

My web prices are just that. Better to call me and if you are sending a lot, or do charity work or are a senior, my prices are negotiable ;)

Just don't throw away any of your scissors or shears ! Can't tell you how many times I needed just a bolt or screw from an old pair of Wiss, Boker, Ginger or otherwise. Some of them have a square-shouldered bolt that is a) hard to find b) expensive from the manufacturer or c) non-existant, that I will have to make and charge the customer for !

Thanks for the input on your experience.

One of the best things to get fresh blood out is salt water/saline solution. The people at the blood bank keep it on hand in a nozzle bottle for "just in case". When I was in an accident, wearing a white top, and got a head wound........ talk about blood all over something. When I finally got back to the room, I put the top in the sink with cool water and salt. All the blood came out.

Pati, > Kate Dicey wrote:

Depending on the fabric - cold water or spit!

Soaking in cold water will get blood out of most fabrics (I assume you don't have much costuming in silk taffetas, etc), and I read somewhere that the enzymes in saliva were the best way to break down the blood. Is that true?

Anyway, a dressmaker told me that it was best to spit on the stain immediately and then rinse. Now while I could see myself doing this to my own sewing, I must admit I got a bit weirded-out at the thought of others spitting on my clothes, so I made a mental note to have everything I had sewn by others (not much BTW) cleaned before I wore it LOL

Hey experts out there in rctq - is this spitting thing true or is it just "an old wives tale"?

Spitting on the bride ? Another weird thing conjured !

For some strange reason, all I can think of is Uma in "Kill Bill" as "the bride" !

Seems there are a lot of old wives tales. Mine own: "sharpening a pair of scissors/shears using tinfoil/sandpaper..." and of course, "cutting paper will ruin your shears" (only if you don't clean the fine dust out after, fwiw).

But I no longer sew my fingers into the work. Perhaps that's because I no longer have calluses. [Lazy dog!] But I do have a slight rough spot on the outside of the tip of my left index finger -- wear from feeling for the point of the needle.

I'm sure that it's been at least a year since I bled while sewing. [Blood will come out if you get at it fast enough

-- *spit* on the stain, don't wait to walk even ten feet for water. Spit is a lot easier to wash out than blood.]

Shortly after writing the above -- after writing a long letter and before saving it -- the carbon-monoxide monitor beeped twice and my monitor went into "energy-saving mode: restart with PC". Since the storm was still raging, I left the computer shut down and went into the kitchen to baste folds preparatory to making flat-felled seams in cotton interlock -- and tore a quarter-inch gash in the knuckle of my left thumb. (Closed up to more like an eighth of an inch this morning.)

It didn't bleed, but I'm going to have to wash the dishes again tonight. I'd just finished two nights for tearing open my palm while opening a jar that had been roughed up with a V-type jar opener.

(Washing dishes isn't my job, but there's nothing like a soak in hot, soapy water to draw inflammation out of a small wound -- or, in this case, prevent it in the first place.)

Joy Beeson

Use peroxide - that cheap stuff you put in the medicine cabinet - just pour some on the blood and it will magically disappear - hint came from a phlebotomist.

Huh, talk anout coincidence !

Just got back from the dentist and had a couple spots on pant leg.

Tried the peroxide as suggested. actually diluted just a bit with water and it worked fine !

Didn't use spit, as... well you can guess where the blood came from anyway.

IMAGINE: Funny picture of Joe trying to get blood out of clothes by spitting on it, when that's where the blood was coming from in 1st place !

Sorry for the visual :(

Somewhere back in the thread, the Village Sharpener wrote about possibly taking up sharpening rotary blades. (Yes, please do) We've agreed that cutting fleece is hard on blades, and VS mentioned sharpening shears to a different bevel for use with fleece.

Could rotary blades be sharpened similarly, for use with fleece?

Liz (Bedford MA)

Hmm, that is a thought. Will confer with my supplier and see what their experience is.

Joy, I use superglue to close gashes and cuts. It's great for papercuts. Once the cut has stopped bleeding I put a drop in the cut, and hold the edges together firmly while it sets. A Steristrip is great for this, if you have one. It stings like mad for a few seconds and then it settles down.

I also use it if I get fissures in my fingers caused by dryness from central heating in winter.

It stops anything getting into the cut and stinging (eg salt, lemon juice) and holds the edges together nicely while it heals. It just wears away with the top layer of skin.

I'm sure there's a special surgical one, but I use regular superglue.

Sally

My heels sometimes crack, and my doctor told me to use Superglue on those, too. It not only works, but makes walking painfree again.