Scissors

For other uses, see Scissors (disambiguation).

Scissors are hand-operated shearing tools. A pair of scissors consists of a pair of blades pivoted so that the sharpened edges slide against each other when the handles (bows) opposite to the pivot are closed. Scissors are used for cutting various thin materials, such as paper, cardboard, metal foil, cloth, rope, and wire. A large variety of scissors and shears all exist for specialized purposes. Hair-cutting shears and kitchen shears are functionally equivalent to scissors, but the larger implements tend to be called shears. Hair-cutting shears have specific blade angles ideal for cutting hair. Using the incorrect type of scissors to cut hair will result in increased damage or split ends, or both, by breaking the hair. Kitchen shears, also known as kitchen scissors, are intended for cutting and trimming foods such as meats.

A pair of standard scissors

Inexpensive, mass-produced modern scissors are often designed ergonomically with composite thermoplastic and rubber handles.

Terminology

The noun scissors is treated as a plural noun and therefore takes a plural verb (e.g., these scissors are).^[1] Alternatively, the tool is referred to by the singular phrase a pair of scissors.^[2] The word shears is used to describe similar instruments that are larger in size and for heavier cutting.^[3]

History

Han dynasty scissors

These shears are thought to date to the 2nd century AD and come from a Roman settlement in Trabzon, Turkey. The style of the "Egyptianizing" metal inlay designs suggests that they were made to imitate actual Egyptian art. When closed, the dog and cat figures at the tips come face to face.^[4]

Early manufacture

The Hangzhou Zhang Xiaoquan Company in Hangzhou, China, has been manufacturing scissors since 1663.^[5]

Pivoted scissors were not manufactured in large numbers until 1761, when Robert Hinchliffe of Sheffield produced the first pair of modern-day scissors made of hardened and polished cast steel. His major challenge was to form the bows; first, he made them solid, then drilled a hole, and then filed away metal to make this large enough to admit the user's fingers. This process was laborious, and apparently Hinchliffe improved upon it in order to increase production. Hinchliffe lived in Cheney Square (now the site of Sheffield Town Hall), and set up a sign identifying himself as a "fine scissor manufacturer". He achieved strong sales in London and elsewhere.^[6]

Modern manufacturing regions

China

The vast majority of global scissor manufacturing takes place in China. As of 2019, China was responsible for 64.3% of worldwide scissors exports. When combined with Chinese Taipei exports, this rises to 68.3%.^[7]

The Hangzhou Zhang Xiaoquan Company, founded in 1663, is one of the oldest continuously operating scissor manufacturers in the world. The company was nationalized in 1958 and now employs 1500 people who annually mass-produce an estimated seven million pairs of inexpensive scissors that retail for an average of US$4 each.^[5]

France

In the late 14th century, the English word "scissors" came into usage. It was derived from the Old French word cisoires, which referred to shears.^[8]

There are several historically important scissor-producing regions in France: Haute-Marne in Nogent-en Bassigny, Châtellereault, Thiers and Rouen.^[9] These towns, like many other scissor-producing communities, began with sabre, sword and bayonet production, which transitioned to scissors and other blades in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.^[10]

Thiers, in the Puy-de-Dôme department of Auvergne, remains an important centre of scissor and cutlery production. It is home to both the Musée de la Coutellerie, which showcases the town's 800-year history of blade-making,^[11] as well as Coutellia, an industry tradeshow that advertises itself as one of the largest annual gatherings of artisanal blade-makers in the world.

Germany

Germany was responsible for manufacturing just under 7% of global scissors exports in 2019.^[12] Often called "The City of Blades", Solingen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, has been a center for the manufacturing of scissors since medieval times. At the end of the 18th century it's estimated that there were over 300 scissorsmiths in Solingen.^[13]

In 1995 the City of Solingen passed The Solingen Ordinance, an update to a 1930s law that decreed "Made in Solingen" stamps could only be applied to products almost entirely manufactured in the old industrial area of Solingen. In 2019 this applied to approximately 150 companies making high-quality blades of all kinds, including scissors.^[14]

Friedrich Herder, founded in Solingen in 1727, is one of the oldest scissors manufacturers still operating in Germany.^[15]

Italy

Classic Italian-style kitchen scissors, often used to cut food. The two halves can be detached in order to be cleaned.

Premana, in Lecco Province, has its origins in ironworks and knife manufacturing beginning in the 16th century. In 1900 there were ten scissor manufacturing workshops, 20 in 1952 and 48 by 1960.^[16] Today, Consorzio Premax, an industrial partnership, organizes over 60 local companies involved in the manufacture of scissors for global markets.^[17] In 2019 Italy exported 3.5% of scissors manufactured globally.^[18]

One of the oldest Premanese scissor manufacturing firms still in operation is Sanelli Ambrogio, which was founded in 1869.^[19]

Japan

Scissormaking in Japan evolved from sword making in the 14th century.^[20] Seki, in Gifu Prefecture, was a renowned center of swordmaking beginning in the 1200s. After citizens were no longer permitted to carry swords, the city's blacksmiths turned to making scissors and knives.^[21] There are many specialized types of Japanese scissors, but sewing scissors were introduced by American Commodore Matthew Perry from the United States in 1854.^[22]

The Sasuke workshop in Sakai City south of Osaka is run by Yasuhiro Hirakawa, a 5th generation scissorsmith. The company has been in operation since 1867.^[23] Yasuhiro Hirakawa is the last traditional scissormaker in Japan, making scissors in the traditional style where the blades are believed to be thinner, lighter and sharper than European scissors.^[24] In 2018 he was profiled in a documentary that featured a pair of his bonsai snips which retailed for US$35,000.^[25]

Spain

In Solsona, Spain, scissor manufacturing began in the 16th century. At the industry's peak in the 18th century there were 24 workshops, organized as the Guild of Saint Eligius, the patron saint of knife makers.^[26] By the mid-1980s there were only two, and by 2021, Pallarès Solsona, founded in 1917 by Lluìs and Carles Pallarès Canal, and still family-operated, was the town's sole remaining artisanal scissor manufacturer.^[27]

United Kingdom

Sheffield was home to the first mass production of scissors beginning in 1761. By the 19th century there were an estimated 60 steel scissor companies in Sheffield. However, since the 1980s, industry globalization and a shift towards cheaper, mass-produced scissors created price deflation that many artisanal manufacturers could not compete with. The Sheffield scissor industry consisted of just two local companies in 2021.^[28]

The two remaining Sheffield scissor manufacturers are William Whiteley, founded in 1760,^[29] and Ernest Wright, which was established in 1902. Both now focus on high-end/niche crafting of "products for life" rather than mass production.^[30] Between these two firms it is estimated that there are no more than ten "putter-togetherers" or "putters" who are the master-trained craftspeople responsible for high quality Sheffield scissor assembly.^[31] In 2020, Ernest Wright was recognized with the Award for Endangered Crafts by the British Heritage Crafts Association.^[32]

Right-handed and left-handed scissors

Left-handed (left) and right-handed (right) sidebent scissors

There are two varieties of left-handed scissors. Many common left-handed scissors (often called "semi"-left-handed scissors) simply have reversed finger grips. The blades open and close as with right-handed scissors, so that users tend to pull the blades apart as they are cutting. This can be challenging for craftspeople as the blades still obscure the cut. "True" left-handed scissors have both reversed finger grips and reversed blade layout, like mirror images of right-handed scissors.^[33] A left-handed person accustomed to using semi-left handed scissors may find using true left-handed scissors difficult at first, as they may have learned to rely heavily on the strength of their thumb to pull the blades apart vs. pushing the blades together in order to cut.^[34]

Some scissors are marketed as ambidextrous. These have symmetric handles so there is no distinction between the thumb and finger handles, and have very strong pivots so that the blades rotate without any lateral give. However, most "ambidextrous" scissors are in fact still right-handed in that the upper blade is on the right, and hence is on the outside when held in the right hand. Even if they cut successfully, the blade orientation will block the view of the cutting line for a left-handed person. True ambidextrous scissors are possible if the blades are double-edged and one handle is swung all the way around (to almost 360 degrees) so that what were the backs of the blades become the new cutting edges. U.S. patent 3,978,584 was awarded for true ambidextrous scissors.

Specialized scissors and shears

Specialized scissors and shears include:

Gardening, agriculture and animal husbandry

Type	Image	Description/purpose
Hedge trimmers		for trimming hedges
Grass shears		for trimming grass
Averruncators		for trimming high branches
Pruning shears or secateurs		for trimming small branches
Loppers		for cutting through large branches
Blade shears		for cutting an animal's fleece to harvest wool

Food and drug

Type	Image	Description/purpose
Kitchen scissors or kitchen shears		for food preparation and other purposes
Poultry shears		to cut poultry
Cigar cutter		specialized scissors with concave blade edges to cut cigars

Grooming

Type	Image	Description/purpose
Hair-cutting shears		for trimming hair
Thinning shears		for thinning thick hair to avoid a bushy look
Hair clippers		used by barbers, hairdressers, and pet groomers for cutting hair
Nail scissors		for cutting nails
Nose scissors		small scissors for nostril and ear hair

Metalwork

Type	Image	Description/purpose
Tinner snips		for cutting through tin
Compound-action snips		for cutting through aluminium and stainless steel
Pipe and duct snips		for cutting through stove pipe and ducting
Hydraulic cutters		for cutting heavy sheet metal, often in traffic collisions. Sometimes referred to by the genericized trademark "Jaws of Life".
Throatless shear		for cutting complex shapes in sheet metal

Medical

Type	Image	Description/purpose
Trauma shears, or "tuff cuts"		for use in emergency medical response and rescue to cut off clothing
Dissection scissors		for cutting flesh in dissection[citation needed]
Surgical scissors		for cutting flesh in surgery[35]
Suture scissors		for cutting sutures, the hook lifts the suture
Iris scissors		for ophthalmic surgery[citation needed]
Metzenbaum scissors		for delicate surgery[citation needed]
Tenotomy scissors		for delicate surgery[36]
Mayo scissors		often for cutting fascia[citation needed]
Bandage scissors		for cutting bandages[37]

Ceremonial

Type	Image	Description/purpose
Ceremonial scissors		giant scissors used for ceremonial ribbon-cutting events[citation needed]

Sewing and clothes-making

Type	Image	Description/purpose
Crafting scissors		for cutting materials for crafts[citation needed]
Buttonhole scissors		for opening buttonholes[citation needed]
Dressmaker's shears		for cutting fabric for dressmaking[citation needed]
Embroidery scissors		for cutting fabric for embroidery[citation needed]
Pinking shears		for cutting cloth leaving a sawtooth edge[citation needed]
Tailor's scissors		for cutting through heavy-duty materials such as leather or multiple layers of fabric[citation needed]

In popular culture

Due to their ubiquity across cultures and classes, scissors have numerous representations across world culture.

Art

Numerous art forms worldwide enlist scissors as a tool/material with which to accomplish the art. For cases where scissors appear in or are represented by the final art product, see Commons:Category:Scissors in art.

Film

• Dead Again is a 1991 film starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson in a thriller revolving around repressed memories of scissors.
• Edward Scissorhands is a 1990 film starring Johnny Depp as a young man who has hands made of multiple pairs of scissors.
• Us is a 2019 psychological horror film directed by Jordan Peele about a family confronted by their scissor-wielding doppelgängers.

Games

• The game rock paper scissors involves two or more players making shapes with their hands to determine the outcome of the game. One of the three shapes, 'scissors', is made by extending the index and middle fingers to mimic the shape of most scissors.
• In the horror video game franchise Clock Tower, recurring antagonist Scissorman is a demonic serial killer with a giant pair of scissors.
• An anthropomorphic pair of scissors appears as a boss in Paper Mario: The Origami King. Various additions of scissor related activity appear as well, such as a variation of rock paper scissors.^[38]

Literature

• Heinrich Hoffmann's 1845 children's book Struwwelpeter includes Die Geschichte vom Daumenlutscher ("The Story of the Thumb-Sucker") in which a child continues to suck his thumbs despite his mother's warnings about The Great Tall Scissorman.
• "Save Your Scissors" – song by City and Colour.
• The song "Scissors" by American Rock Band "Slipknot"

Proverbs

Proverbs about scissors are found in many language communities.

• "Dull scissors don't cut straight." English^[39]
• "An old bachelor is only half a pair of scissors." English^[40]
• "A man without a woman like half a scissors, that would not cut but scratch." Romanian^[41]
• "Scissors do not cut out the scissors' nail." Hungarian^[42]
• "A face shaped like petals of the lotus, a voice as cool as sandal, a heart like a pair of scissors, and excessive humility, these are the signs of a rogue." Sanskrit^[43]
• "Those who have scissors are many but those who sew are none." Pagu^[44]
• "Spoon, fork, scissors, and lamp are not for little children." Volga German^[45]

Sport

The term 'scissor kick' may be found in several sports, including:

• Scissor kick (strike), a generic martial arts term for any of a number of moves that may resemble the appearance or action of a pair of scissors.
• Bicycle kicks in football are sometimes known as 'scissor kicks'.
• Swimming strokes including the sidestroke incorporate a leg movement often known as a 'scissor kick'.

Superstition

Scissors have a widespread place in cultural superstitions. In many cases, the details of the superstition may be specific to a given country, region, tribe, religion or even situation.

• Africa
  • In parts of North Africa, it was held that scissors could be used to curse a bridegroom. When the bridegroom was on horseback, the person enacting the curse would stand behind him with the scissors open and call his name. If the bridegroom answered to his name being called, the scissors would then be snapped shut and the bridegroom would be unable to consummate his marriage with his bride.^[46]
• North America
  • United States
    • In New Orleans, some believed that putting an open pair of scissors underneath your pillow at night was a sound method for sleeping well, even if one is cursed.^[47]

Nature

Animals named after scissors include:

• Birds
  • The scissor-tailed flycatcher of North and Central America.
  • The scissor-tailed hummingbird
  • The scissor-tailed kite, a bird that is widespread throughout Africa.
  • The scissor-tailed nightjar of South America.
• Fish
  • The scissor-tail rasbora, several species of fish that are commonly used for freshwater aquariums.^[48][49]

Gallery

• 
  Chinese scissors, early to mid-Tang dynasty
• 
  A pair of iron scissors dating from the Han dynasty
• 
  Fiskars scissors from 1967
• 
  Embroidery scissors in the form of a crane
• 
  A pair of shears
• 
  Scissors for cutting carpet pile
• 
  These scissors are used in Japan to cut threads in sewing.
• 
  Scissors, pre-1850s iron from Norway, used to cut cloth
• 
  Chinese-style scissors seen in a Hangzhou museum

See also

• Hemostat resembles a pair of scissors, but is used as a clamp in surgery and does not cut at all.
• Nippers cut (break) small pieces out of tile.
• Pliers used for holding and crimping metal or wire.
• Tijeras Canyon a geological feature in New Mexico, US and Tijeras a village in the same canyon, after "scissors" in Spanish.