I found these while packing the fashion construction lab. (Because we are moving. Again. We just moved the department in August, but now we are moving into our permanent home. The move is scheduled for a week before classes start. No pressure, right?) Anywhoo, I found these in a shockingly heavy box labeled “scissors” which, lo and behold, turned out to be full of scissors. Real scissors. The heavy, old kind made entirely of metal. And I saw these, and light shone, and angels sang, and I finally understood The Truth About Scissors(tm). No, seriously, here’s why they’re awesome…
![Scissors Most awesome scissors ever](https://i0.wp.com/www.sempstress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/image2.jpg?resize=225%2C300)
![Scissors 2 Close up of thumb grip of scissors](https://i0.wp.com/www.sempstress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/image3.jpg?resize=225%2C300)
I messed up my cutting hand pretty badly a couple years ago when I cut 1776. It was mostly my own foolish fault. Genius-girl here decided that to save time, she would cut through many layers of very thick fabric at once. I was worried about damaging my orange handled fiskars. I should have been worried about the tendons around the base of my thumb. (I have some sort of major inability to learn that just because my muscles are strong enough to do something does not mean that my connective tissue can keep up. It’s a Heischberg thing.)
The grip on these scissors is designed to prevent that kind of injury. Watch:
![Scissors 3 Hand on scissors](https://i0.wp.com/www.sempstress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/image4.jpg?resize=225%2C300)
This encourages you to cut with your whole hand instead of being all flipper-thumb-cutter. With normal scissors, there’s a smaller thumb loop that tends to want to ride around the middle of the, um, is that a second metacarpal? That bone in the thumb that is not behind a fingernail? That’s the fellow we’re talking about. That encourages you to do more of your cutting with your thumb. (And do not even get me started on those weirdy “ergonomic” scissors – maybe they’re easier on the wrist, but dang, they’re hurty on my sad paw.)
So, if your find your thumb hurts when you cut fabric, look for a scissors like this. But, maybe look for a smaller version, because the blades on this guy are something ridiculously serious like 9-10″. I believe they’re sample cutter’s shears.
And if you find a source for a home-sewer version with the same handle design, mail me. Because the moral of this story is that anyone who spends a significant amount of time cutting needs a real pair of scissors. ;)
Oh, the paw is, slowly but surely, getting better. No one has complained (much) about my handwriting lately (which is returning to its normal shade of weird, rather than the stilted third-grade scrawl that happens when you’re having a hard time holding the writing implement) and I’m starting to retrain it to draw. *laugh* I really don’t do anything by halves, do I?
I’ve had two trigger thumb surgeries on the left hand and lost 3 months this spring to a “traumatized” radial nerve in the left wrist. I so hear you about the hand thing!
Youch! You win – you have done worse things to your paws than I. I hope to never threaten your title! ;)