Most of us have been using scissors since kindergarten or before, and if you’re a papercrafter, you definitely have a pair of scissors in your tool box (or 3 or 4 or 12 !). But did you ever stop to wonder why there are so many scissors on the market and what the differences are? Let’s take a look at the different kinds of scissors and why you might want one over the other.

Scissors for kids are usually blunt tipped, have a 5” blade and have a 5-degree edge grind. The degree of edge grind determines how sharp the scissors will be. 5 degrees will cut paper, but not your child’s hair (or the neighbor kid’s hair). These are the safest scissors that will do the job.

Big kid’s or student scissors are a little longer, have rounded tips, and have a 10-degree edge grind. These will cut lightweight fabrics, too. Most adult scissors have a 30-degree edge grind and have pointed tips. The sharpest (and most expensive) scissors have a 45-degree edge grind. Length may be from 4-inch snips to 10-inch dressmaker shears.

Snips are most often used for quick, short, non-continuous cutting, such as snipping threads when sewing. 5” scissors offer the best precision cutting. 8” scissors are better used for heaver papers, lightweight metals and films. If you’re doing a lot of cutting of longer papers or heavy papers you may want to use 10-inch scissors.

Scissor handles may be cast, hot forged or plastic. Most import scissors have a cast handle, with the blade and handle all one piece. These are the least expensive, but also limited quality. Hot forged handles are expensive, and heavy. They do offer high quality blades, but limited handle shape and size. Plastic handled scissors are the most common. They give a lighter weight scissor with a high quality blade. These handles can be contoured or a shape such as Fiskars Soft Grip®. These are a cushioned handle, which is much easier on the hands if you do a lot of cutting. If you have arthritis or carpel tunnel syndrome, you may want to try a special scissor that is spring loaded to reduce fatigue as the handles open automatically after each cut.

Scissors are also available “straight”, with the handle and blade in the center, or “ bent “ with the handles swept over to the side. The bent handled scissors are best used when cutting on a tabletop. They minimize the up and down action and make it easier to cut.

When you cut with traditional scissors, you can see the cutting line as you work. If you are left-handed the blade is in your way, making it difficult to see where you are cutting. Many companies now make special scissors for lefties.

For the very best results, feed your paper into the blade when cutting and turn the paper, not the scissors. Since cutting paper dulls blades quickly, you will want to keep your fabric scissors just for fabrics. I also keep a separate pair for cutting metal. As your scissors become dull, cutting thru waxed paper, aluminum foil and very fine sandpaper will sharpen them. The scissors I use most often are my Fiskars Soft Grip® 5” Micro-tip® with the super sized handles. These are a little awkward at first, but extremely sharp and easy to manipulate once you get used to them. Make sure to put your name on them so they don’t disappear!

There are also several kinds of scissors on the market that cut special edges. That’s a whole other article, for another day!