Dropped Your Scissors? The Two-Minute Damage Check, and What's Fixable

Dropped your scissors? Stop cutting with them first, look second — a drop can chip the edge, knock the tips out of line, spring a blade or shift the tension, and cutting on damage compounds it with every close. The two-minute check below tells you whether you're fine, need a sharpen, or need an assessment — and the honest news from a bench that's seen more than 100,000 scissors: most dropped scissors are repairable, and we'll tell you straight when one isn't.

The two-minute damage check

1. The tips. Closed, under good light: do the tips meet exactly as they used to, or does one sit proud or crossed? Misaligned tips after a drop usually mean a knocked pivot or a moved blade set.

2. The slow close. Open fully, close slowly, feel and listen. A click, catch or gritty spot at one point in the travel is the signature of an edge nick — mark where it happens; that's where the damage is.

3. The tension drop test. Open to about 90 degrees, release the moving blade. If the fall has changed from what you know — swinging shut loose, or barely moving — the pivot took the hit. The tension guide covers the reset; if resetting doesn't hold, that's assessment territory.

4. The edge sight. Sight down each blade edge toward the light. A chip shows as a bright spot; a flat as a broken line in the curve. Small and away from the tip is routine repair; deep or at the tip needs a professional call.

What's fixable — the straight version

A small nick comes out in a proper convex re-grind — the edge is taken back past the chip, costing a little blade life, not the scissor. Knocked tension is a setting. Tip alignment and a sprung blade need hands that work on scissors daily — sometimes fixable on the spot, sometimes not, and anyone who promises before looking is guessing. The one honest boundary: a deep chip on a well-worn blade can run out of steel to grind back to, and if yours is there, we'll say so instead of taking the job. The failure patterns and what they look like are covered in what happens when sharpening goes wrong.

The warranty answer, same on every page

Drop damage isn't a manufacturing defect, so it isn't covered by any brand's warranty — including our lifetime manufacturing warranty, said here in plain sight rather than fine print. It's repair work: on routes across Victoria and Tasmania, plus Mount Gambier and Millicent, assessment happens at your salon, sharpening is a flat $70 (ours) or $80 (any brand), and a repair beyond that gets a straight quote before anything touches a stone.

So it never happens again

Case or holster, always — never loose on a trolley edge. Never catch a falling scissor; open blades win that argument, so let it fall and check it after. And keep the pivot oiled — a smooth scissor gets fumbled less than a sticky one. The full daily routine is in the care guide.

Frequently asked questions

I dropped my scissors — can I keep cutting with them?

Stop cutting first, look second. A drop can chip the edge, knock the tips out of alignment, spring the set of a blade or shift the tension — and cutting on a damaged edge compounds the damage with every close. Two minutes of checks (below) tells you whether you're fine, need a service, or need an assessment. The good news from the bench: most dropped scissors are repairable.

How do I check my scissors after dropping them?

Four checks, in order. Look at the tips: do they meet exactly, or does one sit proud? Close the blades slowly and listen and feel: a click, catch or gritty spot at one point usually marks a nick. Run the drop test for tension: open to about 90 degrees and release the moving blade — a changed fall means the pivot took the hit. Then sight down each blade edge under good light for any visible chip or flat spot. Any failed check = book an assessment before your next client.

Can a chipped scissor edge be repaired?

Usually, yes. A small nick — even one you can feel at every close — is typically removed in a proper convex re-grind by taking the edge back past the chip; you lose a little blade life, not the scissor. What's harder: a bent blade or sprung set, which needs assessment by someone who works on scissors for a living, and a deep chip near the tip on a well-worn blade, where there may not be enough steel left. We'll tell you which yours is before any work is done.

Does dropping my scissors void the warranty?

Drop damage isn't a manufacturing defect, so it isn't warranty work — that's true of every brand's warranty, including our lifetime manufacturing warranty, and we'd rather say it plainly than have you find it in fine print. What it is: repair work, honestly priced. On ShearGenius routes across Victoria and Tasmania, plus Mount Gambier and Millicent, assessment happens at your salon and sharpening is a flat $70 for our scissors, $80 for any brand — repair quotes are straight talk before any grinding starts.

How do I stop dropping my scissors?

The bench answers, learned the hard way: scissors live in a case or holster, never loose on the trolley edge or section shelf; never catch a falling scissor (open blades win that argument — let it fall); and oil on the pivot beats grip drama at the handle. A dropped scissor with a case habit is a once-a-career event; without one, it's an annual one.