SHEAR ANATOMY

Professional Shears: Essential Tools for Every Artist

Just as an artist chooses the perfect brush to craft a masterpiece, hair stylists, barbers, and pet grooming professionals rely on a variety of professional shears to achieve precision and creativity in their work. Selecting the right shears tailored to your needs is key to elevating your artistry and ensuring exceptional results.

Did You Know?
On average, professional stylists and groomers own six or more high-quality shears for daily use. Each pair serves a unique purpose, enabling versatility and efficiency.

Types of Shears and Their Functions

Main Shears: Your everyday go-to for precision work, typically 5”–6” in length.
Blending Shears (Thinners): Perfect for blending and removing lines, featuring 27–40 teeth.
Texturizing Shears (Chunkers): Ideal for creating volume and removing weight, with 7–24 teeth.
Long Shears: Specialized for advanced cutting techniques, ranging from 6”–7”.
Narrow-Blade Shears: Designed for intricate detail work, usually 5”–5.5” long.
Backup Shears: A must-have when your primary shears are being serviced or sharpened.

With the right tools in hand, you can master every technique and bring your creative vision to life. Choose your shears wisely—they’re the foundation of your artistry.

Let’s learn more about Shear features!

Shear Size

When it comes to shears one size does not fit all. While many hair stylists, barbers, and groomers will use one shear more than their others, there are situations where specialized tools are called for, especially among pet groomers. For pet groomers, cutting hair around the feet of any dog, much less a small dog, is a clumsy endeavor if you bring in a large tool to navigate through all the tiny & delicate spaces. This is where a smaller sized shear really shines. Longer shears are great for cutting hair off large surface areas like long hair or animals with a long coat. Having more surface volume to cut means more cutting, and long shears will do the job much faster than smaller ones.

In order to choose the correct size, you will need to know how shears are measured. Knowing these measurement points are crucial when shopping difference makes and manufactures from around the world.

In the USA and Asia, the length measurement points start from the tip of the blade and finish at the edge of the finger hole that is along the same side of the blade as shown below.

Length measurement points in Europe start from the tip of the blade and finish at the edge of the finger rest as shown below.

Blade Types

Straight Blade is the most common blade which provides straight line precision cuts. Straight blades come in various lengths offering stability with shorter lengths or less cuts with longer blades.

Curved Blades are best used for pet groomer who have fluffy companions to groom with a rounded finish. Alternatively, these shears can prove to be useful for any Barber looking to smooth or round a top cut or beard.

Ball Tip Blades have a round tip edge available in a Straight or Curved Ball Tip Blade. This feature is perfect for those delicate eye areas typically used for pet grooming they will come in handy for any Stylist or barber working with children.

Serrated Blades have fine lines or grooves on the beveled edge which allow the blade to hold onto the hair and prevents it from slipping off the edge of the shear.

Texturizing Chunker Blades have wider teeth and wider spaces between them. With more hair being cut by each tooth and more hair being left uncut right next to the cut hair you can visibly see a difference in the negative space created. Perfect for bangs or wisping it helps to remove bulk and create more life and movement.

Blending Thinner Blades have narrow teeth and narrow spaces between them. This design allows the shear to cut just small amount of hair with each tooth leaving a few hairs next to them uncut. This allows the cut and uncut hairs to blend. These shears are great for removing bulk allowing it to lay better.

Hybrid Blades are the best of both worlds combining wide and narrow teeth creating a power tool that incorporates the cutting speed of Chunkers and the natural blending finish of Thinners.

Essentially all Shears regardless of blade type were created to cut with precision, you choose which blade will work best for you and your clients.

Tension Types

This tiny mechanism is the most important part of your shears, often overlook, misunderstood and misused, the Tension screw is the center point of your Professional shears. Understanding how to properly care for your shears and learning how to use them effectively will without a doubt prolong the life of your shears.

If your Tension screw is too loose this will result in not being able to cut effectively causing the hair to bend into the blade and potentially damaging the blade alignment.
If your screw it too tight this will cause the shears to grind against one another instead of gliding effortlessly. This constant grind will not only dull your blades faster it can also damage your shears by creating knicks along both blades resulting in a lost investment.

As a professional stylist, pet groomer or barber your shears are the tools you use to invest into your business. At Factory Edge Sharpening all of our shears are properly inspected, oiled and adjusted by Raymond Faria owner prior to shipping. If you are unsure of the proper tension, we provide an affordable Sharpening Service which includes an inspection of your shears, replacement of worn bumpers and lubrication.

Adjustable Tension Screws are the most common tension which provide a clean flat edge to your shears. This type of screw requires an external adjustment key to tighten or loosen as needed. Don’t know where to find an adjustment key? No worries we include a free adjustment key when you order this type of shear.

Adjustable Tension knobs come in every color you can think of. This unique knob gives your shear its own unique personality and style. Tension knobs are great for quick adjustments while in mid cut.

Ball Bearing Tension Systems uses a roller bearing which is pressed into the blade to stabilize the blade and eliminate any rocking as the shear is opened and closed. This is a great alternative compared to a plastic washer that is common in many blades which can allow the blade to potentially wobble as they are opened closed causing uneven blade wear. These high-quality features give you the freedom to use your shears without having to worrying about adjusting them after use resulting in a longer lasting blade.

Ergonomic Features

Ergonomic Finger Rest

Depending on preference, you can find shears with no hand rest at all, or with varying acute bends to the left. The purpose of the hand rest is twofold. It provides a comfortable place to rest your fingers which, in return, gives more control and ease for cutting without having to open and close the blades as frequently. The ergonomic shape from a bent hand rest can dramatically reduce the wrist contortions required from stylists and groomers, and therefore helps reduce fatigue and chronic injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome.

Ergonomic Pinky Rest

All proper shears have this feature, as it is a simple and effective way to reduce forearm fatigue when you spend half your day with scissors in your hands. There are two types of rests you can choose from depending on your preference. Permanent finer rests are a part of the shear itself viewed as an extension of the handle but do not count in the length of the overall blade.

Many shears with a fixed finer rest have engraved detail as the rest of the shear handle. Removable finger rests vary in sizes and colors allowing for a customize shear.

Ergonomic Shears are designed to reduce the amount of stress on the hand, arm, shoulder and back when cutting.

Ergonomic Thumb Rest The ergonomic thumb rest is difficult to see in an image because 2D images don’t provide depth. What makes a thumb rest ergonomic is a 15-20 degree tilt outwards, away from your hand. This feature forces you to use the tip of your thumb to control the scissor, instead of pushing the whole finger through, which also reduces the stress on your wrist, tendons, and ligaments.

Swivels

This feature offers the best support for long days it helps reduces many of the aches that come from holding awkward positions for extended periods of time, and helps prevent chronic injuries like Carpal Tunnel, Tendinitis, Capsulitis, Muscle / Tendon strains or general inflammation. The swivel motion allows the user full control over the tilt and direction of the blade, while minimizing arm movements. This is a great feature for pet groomers who must deal with clients that have hair on every surface of their body, at every angle, and tend not to cooperate.

Single Swivels have a rotating range of 365 degrees

Double Swivels have a rotating range of 730 degrees for ultimate control.

Steel Grades

When you buy your tools, it’s essential that you understand what you are buying. There is always a sales pitch to promise you the world, but to make a good decision you need to boil your decision down to the objective facts, not the fancy packaging or the price tag.

All salespeople like to say that there is a simple quality/cost relationship, enforcing a false belief that the higher cost yields higher quality. It makes sense for a salesperson, because a higher price yields a bigger paycheck for them, but to get the best deal, it’s better to really understand the fundamentals of what makes a good shear.

All scissor steels are high carbon stainless steels, containing about 1% carbon. Any more would make them too brittle, and prone to chipping or breaking. A favorite for scissor and knife stainless steels is to add molybdenum, which is an element that bonds to chromium and produces an alloy that resists wear better than regular high-grade stainless steels. All the steel grades below contain molybdenum.

Other elements in these steels are added, either to make them tougher, to make them easier to work with, or to make them harder without making them more brittle. Keep in mind that the difference between these steels can be minor, whereas the price difference can be huge. Often you pay a premium to get the very best, not because it’s 3 times harder or tougher than the second-best choice, but just because it’s the best. Since they have about the same carbon and chromium content, all of these steels max out on the Rockwell hardness scale within 58-60 HRC after heat treatment. While that range does contain somewhat noticeable differences, the difference between these steel grades is primarily the toughness and wear resistance of the shear.

ATS 314
This is a famed Japanese stainless-steel alloy containing 15% chromium and 4% molybdenum. It is a metallurgical masterpiece from Japan, yielding a harder and more durable product than other high carbon stainless steels. It is a favorite material for hand-forged shears and is considered the best material money can buy.

V10 (VG10)
This is also a Japanese steel alloy containing 15% chromium 1% molybdenum, 0.2% vanadium, and 1.5% cobalt. It is an excellent steel that is harder and more durable than 440C, but not quite on the level of ATS 314, and therefore more affordable.

V1 (VG1)
This is a Japanese steel alloy that contains 15% chromium and 0.4% molybdenum. This steel contains the essentials of the V10 steel, without the frills that put V10 at the top of the series. It costs less than V10 and performs similarly.

440C
This is the bread and butter of high carbon stainless steel for blades and shears. It can contain 18% chromium, 0.75% molybdenum, 1% manganese, and 1% silicon. It is the most commonly used tool steel in grooming and hair cutting shears, due to its quality and its affordability.

What is Hitachi Steel?

The top three steel grades listed above were invented by a Japanese company named Takefu Special Steel Co. The only company licensed to produce Takefu’s high carbon stainless steels is Hitachi, and so, Hitachi is a sought-after premium brand in the stainless-steel market. Common Hitachi steels are ATS 314, V1 and V10. The V series is often referred to as VG in English, and VK in Japanese. This is because the “G”, stands for gold. The letter changed to be the first letter of the word “Gold”; in whatever language you are speaking. For this reason, we prefer to simply call it V1 and V10.

Shears: Forged vs Cast

Casting processes are easier to automate than forging. It is done by pouring molten metal into a mold and allowing it to cool and harden. This slow cooling process allows the metal to form large crystals, which leads to a brittle structure, that must be corrected through subsequent heat treating and quenching to yield a reliable, high-quality shear. Forging is a labor-intensive process that uses force to push the malleable metal into the desired shape. High level techniques put extra pressure on the edge to form a harder, more dense material, that will retain an edge better than any other method. Keep in mind that either one of these methods can be executed poorly, and result in a bad product. The best possible outcome requires forging, but the more reliable process is casting.

What's Next?

Now that you have gained expert shear anatomy knowledge you can put your newfound expertise to use and shop for the right shear just for you!

If you have any questions about a shear you would like to purchase, please feel free to reach me at Factory Edge Sharpening and will be happy to assist you.

SHEAR ANATOMY

Did You Know? On average, professional stylists and groomers own six or more high-quality shears for daily use. Each pair serves a unique purpose, enabling versatility and efficiency.

​

Types of Shears and Their Functions

Main Shears: Your everyday go-to for precision work, typically 5”–6” in length.

Blending Shears (Thinners): Perfect for blending and removing lines, featuring 27–40 teeth.

Texturizing Shears (Chunkers): Ideal for creating volume and removing weight, with 7–24 teeth.

Long Shears: Specialized for advanced cutting techniques, ranging from 6”–7”.

Narrow-Blade Shears: Designed for intricate detail work, usually 5”–5.5” long.