Why most 'left-handed' scissors still fight the people who use them
Many scissors sold for left-handers only swap the finger grips. The blades still sit the right-handed way, so a lefty ends up prying them apart with the thumb while the upper blade hides the cutting line. True left-handed scissors are full mirror images, and switching to them can feel oddly clumsy at first.
Scissors work by two sharpened blades sliding hard past each other around a pivot, cutting and shearing at once. Most so-called ambidextrous pairs have symmetric handles but keep the upper blade on the right, which blocks a left-handed user's view. Genuinely two-handed scissors are possible, with double-edged blades and a handle that swings almost a full circle so the backs become cutting edges; a US patent covers exactly that design.
Mass production began in Sheffield in 1761, when Robert Hinchliffe made pivoted scissors from hardened, polished cast steel. Forming the finger loops was the hard part: he forged them solid, drilled a hole, then filed it wide enough for fingers. By the 19th century around 60 scissor firms operated in the city. Cheap imports gutted the trade from the 1980s, and by 2021 only two remained, with perhaps ten master assemblers, known as putters, between them.
Across the world, blade towns share a lineage with weapons. French centres such as Thiers turned from swords and bayonets to scissors around 1800. In Japan, the swordsmiths of Seki switched to scissors and knives once citizens could no longer carry swords, and Commodore Perry brought Western sewing scissors in 1854. Solingen in Germany counted over 300 scissorsmiths by the late 18th century and still strictly guards its Made in Solingen stamp.
Today China ships about 64 percent of the world's scissors. One maker, Hangzhou's Zhang Xiaoquan company, has operated since 1663 and turns out roughly seven million pairs a year at around four dollars each. At the opposite extreme, Japan's last traditional scissorsmith, Yasuhiro Hirakawa of Sakai, made bonsai snips that sold for 35,000 dollars.
Source: Scissors
