Twice As Sharp
Address:
Wilson Gracey
366 Fairview Rd.
Fort Erie, ON
L2A 4R8 CANADA
Location: Serving all Southern Ontario
Tel: 1-905-351-1678
Email:
Web: www.TwiceAsSharp.ca
Twice As Sharp offers the following products and/or services:
Tips:
Finding a good sharpener
Finding a good sharpener is not easy, as all sharpeners will tell you that they are good. Many people think that the best place to get their scissors sharpened is at a hair show. Although the sharpeners at hair shows are very good, keep one thing in mind. You have many hundreds of hairdressers and barbers bringing in their scissors, shears, and clipper blades to be sharpened all in one day. It takes me 12 to14 minutes to sharpen a pair of Japanese shears properly. Now if I set up shop at a one day hair show and say I have, 200 or 300 pairs of shears to sharpen plus many clipper blades, how much time would I have to spend on each blade, possibly 3 minutest at best? I will not sharpen any shears unless I have the 12 to 14 minutes to spend on each pair, so no hair shows for me. Simply put you can not rush and do a good sharpening job on shears or clipper blades.
Remember, a good sharpener will carry with him a sample of his work. If he has nothing to show you, beware he may not be capable of sharpening beauty shears properly. If you must try out a new sharpener ask to see his equipment. A good sharpener will never hide anything from you. Whenever possible, give him a pair of low priced scissors and test him out. Never give out more than one pair of scissors until you have carefully checked and tested the first pair and only pay him if they work well. It amazes me how many people still paid the sharpener even after their shears were ruined.
Let me just say again my year 2000 sharpening trip made clear that the market place needs more professionals. It was easy to see why they all wanted me to come back. I expect most towns and cities throughout Canada are having similar experiences with poor sharpeners. My goal is to provide fast high quality sharpening at reasonable prices to everyone in Canada that I do business with. My services will be excellent also for all those who have never had a scissors sharpener pass by or for ones that are unable to make it to hair shows.
How to make your shears and clipper blades last longer
- Cut only hair with your shears, scissors, and clipper blades. Never cut even the smallest piece of paper.
- Wash dirty hair before cutting it; this is real important especially for pet groomers.
- Never drop your shears or blades. However nicks can be taken out of blades.
- Never loan your shears or blades to a friend or other people.
- Keep shears out of reach of children or clients who may want to trim their nails while waiting.
- Clipper blades should be brushed out well after each use with a strong toothbrush. Apply oil properly as needed.
- Choose only a well-trained certified professional sharpener. Watch out for people who may oversharpen.
Adjusting Spring Tension and Sockets on Oster and WahI Type Clipper Blades
If you drop your clipper blades, the fall could cause the ears (tabs) on your blade socket to spread apart. If so, this will make you clipper machine vibrate excessively. A worn drive lever will also cause excessive vibration in your clipper machine. If the two screws in the blade hinge assembly come loose this will also cause the machine to vibrate. Below the illustrations 1 to 3 show you the right and wrong way to readjust a socket if it has been dropped. Notice, if one of the ears (tabs) is cracked on the blade socket, then it must be replaced with a new one.
Note, illustration #1; never squeeze the two socket ears together at the same time as they may snap off. Sockets are made of cheap metal and will break easily if squeezed hard so always squeeze them ever so gently. Note, illustration #1 shows you the wrong way to adjust blade sockets, illustrations #2 and #3 show the right way. To correctly set blade sockets check illustrations 2 and 3. With groove-joint pliers gently rest pliers on one socket tab and on opposite edge of spring and gently squeeze about 1/32 of an inch or less, then do the same to the opposite side, then test blade in machine. Should you squeeze the tabs too close together, with machine running simply force the blade over the hinge assembly using the palm of your hand. If all blades vibrate excessively, then the problem may not be with the blades. The problem is most likely a loose hinge assembly or a worn drive lever in your machine.
If your blade cuts poorly or leaves lines or streaks after being sharpened the problem is most likely a weak spring tension or a worn out blade spring that will not hold the proper tension anymore. Please note that a worn drive lever in your machine will also cause streaks. A worn drive lever in the machine should be replaced with a new one. Weak blade springs should be changed with new ones also. Illustration #5 shows you how to set spring tension correctly should you ever need to perform this task. Using locking pliers gently squeeze blade spring behind screw holes as shown in illustration #5. Yes, we set the spring tension and check for excessive vibration on blades that fit the A5 Oster machine before sending your blades back to you.
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| Blade Socket (1) Wrong Way | Correct Way (2) | Correct Way (3) | Blade Spring (4) |
Helpful Tips to help you with you Clipper Machines and Blades
- Why machines overheat: Machine bearings need oiling or are worn out due to lack of oil. Replace worn bearings. Drive lever gear assembly may be dry of grease. Check, but do not overgrease. Replace old dried-up grease with fresh new grease when needed. Machines that are used continuously all day such as used by pet groomers should be oiled daily. Clipper machines used less often need oiling less frequently. If blades are not properly oiled and cleaned this will also cause your machine to overheat.
- Why clipper blades overheat: The main reasons for overheating is lack of oil or super dirty blades. Blades when in heavy-duty service (worked continuously, more or less, all day) need to be cleaned and oiled often. Using a toothbrush, clean out hair in between cutter and comb part of blade often. To oil, simply slide cutter part of blade to one side, and put one drop of oil on blade surface, then slide cutter to the other side and oil the other side. Be sure to put a drop of oil in cutter blade guide grove also from time to time. Clean and oil after each groom for best blade operation.
- Why clipper machine vibrates, WahI & Oster A5 & A2: The main causes for the vibrations are as follows: Oster: If all blades cause your machine to vibrate it is one of two things. A: a worn drive lever (if so replace drive lever), or B: the 2 blade hinge assembly screws are loose; simply retighten them. If the machine vibrates when using one particular blade then the problem is with the blade socket in this blade, adjust or replace socket as shown in picture illustrations. If the WahI machine vibrates, simply turn the adjuster screw on the side of your machine in most of the way, then turn it back out till the machine stops vibrating & runs smoothly.
- Why clipper blades cut poorly or not at all: The reasons are as follows: A: Blades may be dull and need sharpening by a professional like myself. B: Blade spring tension may be too loose or too tight, check picture illustrations for correct adjustments. C. Blade setback may not be correct. Check setback chart we sent you. D: Rusty or dirty blades will not cut properly or cut at all. Clean and oil all your blades often. Using a stiff toothbrush, clean blade after each use. Wipe all wet blades dry and oil them at once. Water will start rusting blades in a matter of hours. E: Also if blades have a thick build up of brownish varnish this will create a gap in between the cuter and comb part of blade. This gap although unnoticeable to the eye will cause the blade not to cut. At the end of each day with the machine running, you should dip the blade part in blade wash for 3 to 5 seconds or more to clean out all dirt and small hair particles, this will prevent any varnish build up. Then dry and oil blades before putting them away.
- Caring for your blades: Never drop your clipper blades. This will possibly take a chip out of the blade or spread the socket ears (tabs) apart. If blade socket ears are spread apart even slightly, this will cause your Oster machine to vibrate. If this happens you will have squeeze the ears together as shown in picture illustrations. Whether dog grooming or working in a hair salon, dry wet blades off and re-oil as soon as you have finished. Keep blades clean and free from brownish varnish build-up that can occur on blades that are not kept clean. A varnish build-up on the blade surface will cause the blade not to function or cut properly. Badly rusted blades can be cleaned up and re-sharpened in most cases.
- Caring for your shears: Be careful not to drop your shears. This will put bad nicks in the blades. We can however re-sharpen your shears and they will work fine. Cut only hair with your shears. Never cut paper or anything else. Never force your shears through thick clumps of hair as this will damage your shears, even though you may not realize it. Dry wet shears and oil pivot screw periodically. Keep rubber tip protectors on your shears when not in use. Be careful of people claiming they can sharpen your shears at super low prices. These non-professionals may ruin you shears. Much of my work involves fixing damaged shears. Thankfully I can fix most of them. We hope you appreciate this information provided to you as part of our professional service. Recommend us to your friends in the industry.
- Defects in shears or scissors: Beauty, barber, and pet groomer shears and scissors go through a special heat treating process when being formed or made in the factory. If this process is not performed properly then you end up with a batch of defective shears. Defective shears or scissors can break when you use them or have them re-sharpened. In rare cases some expensive shears can have air pocket just under the finished surfaces undetectable at time of purchase. These shears may work fine for a while with no apparent problems. However when you have these shears sharpened for the first or second time tiny holes or bubbles will appear in the blades. This problem is not your fault or the fault of the sharpener as they are factory defective shears and should be replaced by the company. This is why you should always keep your recite when purchasing any shears. Defective shears like these are rare, however they do show up occasionally.
Clipper blade set back charts
The carts below shows you how to set your clipper blades professionally. Your blades will cut much better in most cases with these setting. The charts are guides only you can set your blades to your own liking or to what ever setting works well for you. Should your two clipper blade screws ever loosen then you will need to re-set your clipper blade and re-tighten both screws firmly.
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OSTER 10, 11, AND 111
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WAHL PROFESSIONAL BLADES
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OSTER A-5 AND A-2 TYPE
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Location Map:
Twice As Sharp travels all over southern Ontario throughout the year. Please contact us to arrange a visit next time we are in your area.
