Scissors

During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, spring scissors were made by heating a bar of iron or steel, then flattening and shaping its ends into blades on an anvil. The center of the bar was heated, bent to form the spring, then cooled and reheated to make it flexible.

The Hangzhou Zhang Xiaoquan Company in Hangzhou, China, has been manufacturing scissors since 1663.[4]

William Whiteley & Sons (Sheffield) Ltd. was producing scissors by 1760, although it is believed the business began trading even earlier. The first trade-mark, 332, was granted in 1791.[5] The company is still manufacturing scissors today, and is the oldest company in the West to do so.

Pivoted scissors were not manufactured in large numbers until 1761, when Robert Hinchliffe of Sheffield produced the first pair of modern-day scissors made of hardened and polished cast steel. His major challenge was to form the bows; first, he made them solid, then drilled a hole, and then filed away metal to make this large enough to admit the user's fingers. This process was laborious, and apparently Hinchliffe improved upon it in order to increase production. Hinchliffe lived in Cheney Square (now the site of Sheffield Town Hall), and set up a sign identifying himself as a "fine scissor manufacturer". He achieved strong sales in London and elsewhere.[6]

During the 19th century, scissors were hand-forged with elaborately decorated handles. They were made by hammering steel on indented surfaces known as 'bosses' to form the blades. The rings in the handles, known as bows, were made by punching a hole in the steel and enlarging it with the pointed end of an anvil.

In 1649, in Swedish-ruled Finland, an ironworks was founded in the village of Fiskars between Helsinki and Turku. In 1830, a new owner started the first cutlery works in Finland, making, among other items, scissors with the Fiskars trademark.

The vast majority of global scissor manufacturing takes place in China. As of 2019, China was responsible for 64.3% of worldwide scissors exports. When combined with Chinese Taipei exports, this rises to 68.3%.[7] The primary scissors producing region in China is in Guandong Province.

The Hangzhou Zhang Xiaoquan Company, founded in 1663, is one of the oldest continuously operating scissor manufacturers in the world. The company was nationalized in 1958 and now employs 1500 people who annually mass-produce an estimated 7-million pairs of inexpensive scissors that retail for an average of US$4 each.[8]

In the late 14th century the English word “scissors” came into usage. It was derived from the Old French word, “cisoires” which referred to shears.[9]

There are several historically important scissor-producing regions in France: Haute-Marne in Nogent-en Bassigny, Châtellereault, Thiers and Rouen.[10] These towns, like many other scissor-producing communities, began with sabre, sword and bayonet production, which transitioned to scissors and other blades in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.[11]

Thiers, in the Puy-de-Dôme department of Auvergne, remains an important centre of scissor and cutlery production. It is home to both the Musée de la Coutellerie, which showcases the town’s 800 year history of blade-making,[12] as well as Coutellia, an industry tradeshow that advertises itself as one of the largest annual gatherings of artisanal blade-makers in the world.

Germany was responsible for manufacturing just under 7% of global scissors exports in 2019.[13] Often called “The City of Blades”, Solingen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, has been a center for the manufacturing of scissors since medieval times. At the end of the 18th century it’s estimated that there were over 300 scissorsmiths in Solingen.[14]

In 1995 the City of Solingen passed The Solingen Ordinance, an update to a 1930s law that decreed “Made in Solingen” stamps could only be applied to products almost entirely manufactured in the old industrial area of Solingen. In 2019 this applied to approximately 150 companies making high-quality blades of all kinds, including scissors.[15]

Freidrich Herder, founded in Solingen in 1727, is one of the oldest scissors manufacturers still operating in Germany.[16]

Classic Italian-style kitchen scissors, often used to cut food. The two halves can be detached in order to be cleaned.

Premana, in Lecco Province, has its origins in ironworks and knife manufacturing beginning in the 16th century. In 1900 there were ten scissor manufacturing workshops, 20 in 1952 and 48 by 1960.[17] Today, Consorzio Premax, an industrial partnership, organizes over 60 local companies involved in the manufacture of scissors for global markets.[18] In 2019 Italy exported 3.5% of scissors manufactured globally.[19]

One of the oldest Premanese scissor manufacturing firms still in operation is Sanelli Ambrogio, which was founded in 1869.[20]

Scissormaking in Japan evolved from sword making in the 14th century.[21] Seki, in Gifu Prefecture, was a renowned center of swordmaking beginning in the 1200s. After citizens were no longer permitted to carry swords, the city’s blacksmiths turned to making scissors and knives.[22] There are many specialized types of Japanese scissors, but sewing scissors were introduced by American Commodore Matthew Perry from the United States in 1854.[23]

The Sasuke workshop in Sakai City south of Osaka is run by Yasuhiro Hirakawa, a 5th generation scissorsmith. The company has been in operation since 1867.[24] Yasuhiro Hirakawa is the last traditional scissormaker in Japan, making scissors in the traditional style where the blades are believed to be thinner, lighter and sharper than European scissors.[25] In 2018 he was profiled in a documentary that featured a pair of his bonsai snips which retailed for $35,000 USD.[26]

In Solsona, Spain, scissor manufacturing began in the 16th century. At the industry’s peak in the 18th century there were 24 workshops, organized as the Guild of Saint Eligius, the patron saint of knife makers.[27] By the mid-1980s there were only two, and by 2021, Pallarès Solsona, founded in 1917 by Lluìs and Carles Pallarès Canal, and still family-operated, was the town’s sole remaining artisanal scissor manufacturer.[28]

Sheffield, York, was home to the first mass production of scissors beginning in 1761. By the 19th century there were an estimated 60 steel scissor companies in Sheffield. However, since the 1980s, industry globalization and a shift towards cheaper, mass-produced scissors created price deflation that many artisanal manufacturers could not compete with. The Sheffield scissor industry consisted of just two local companies in 2021.[29]

The two remaining Sheffield scissor manufacturers are William Whiteley, founded in 1760,[30] and Ernest Wright, which was established in 1902. Both now focus on high-end/niche crafting of “products for life” rather than mass production.[31] Between these two firms it is estimated that there are no more than ten “Putter-Togetherers” or “Putters” who are the master-trained craftspeople responsible for high quality Sheffield scissor assembly.[32] In 2020, Ernest Wright was recognized with the Award for Endangered Crafts by the British Heritage Crafts Association.[33]

Numerous art forms worldwide enlist scissors as a tool/material with which to accomplish the art. For cases where scissors appear in or are represented by the final art product, see Commons:Category:Scissors in art.

• Dead Again is a 1991 film starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson in a thriller revolving around repressed memories of scissors.
• Edward Scissorhands is a 1990 film starring Johnny Depp as a young man who has hands made of multiple pairs of scissors.
• Running with Scissors is a 2006 film based on the memoir of the same title.
• Us is a 2019 psychological horror film directed by Jordan Peele about a family confronted by their scissor-wielding doppelgängers.

• The game Rock paper scissors involves two or more players making shapes with their hands to determine the outcome of the game. One of the three shapes, 'scissors', is made by extending the index and middle fingers to mimic the shape of most scissors.

• In the horror video game franchise, Clock Tower, there is a character called Scissorman. Although the identity is usually taken by multiple individuals throughout the series, Scissorman is usually portrayed as a demonic serial killer with a giant pair of scissors, and kills anyone without showing any signs of mercy or remorse.

• An anthropomorphic pair of scissors appears as a boss in Paper Mario: The Origami King. Various additions of scissor related activity appear as well, such as a variation of Rock paper scissors.[36]

Heinrich Hoffmann's 1845 children's book Struwwelpeter includes Die Geschichte vom Daumenlutscher ("The Story of the Thumb-Sucker") in which a child continues to suck his thumbs despite his mother's warnings about The Great Tall Scissorman.

Augusten Burroughs' 2002 memoir Running with Scissors spent eight weeks on the New York Times best seller list. The book was later adapted into a film.

• Running with Scissors is the title of a 1999 album by "Weird Al" Yankovic.
• The song "The Tailor Shop on Enbizaka (円尾坂の仕立屋 Enbizaka no Shitateya)" from Vocaloid producer Akuno-P tells a story about a tailor that kills a man and his family, whom she mistakes for her unfaithful lover and his three mistresses, using her sewing scissors.
• The XTC song "Scissor Man", later covered by Primus.
• "Save Your Scissors" – song by City and Colour.
• The song "Scissors" by American Rock Band "Slipknot"

The term 'scissor kick' may be found in several sports, including:

• Scissor kick (strike), a generic martial arts term for any of a number of moves that may resemble the appearance or action of a pair of scissors.
• Bicycle kicks in football are sometimes known as 'scissor kicks'.
• Swimming strokes including the sidestroke incorporate a leg movement often known as a 'scissor kick'.

Scissors have a widespread place in cultural superstitions. In many cases, the details of the superstition may be specific to a given country, region, tribe, religion or even situation.

• Africa
  • In parts of North Africa, it was held that scissors could be used to curse a bridegroom. When the bridegroom was on horseback, the person enacting the curse would stand behind him with the scissors open and call his name. If the bridegroom answered to his name being called, the scissors would then be snapped shut and the bridegroom would be unable to consummate his marriage with his bride.[37]
• Asia
  • In Pakistan, some believe that scissors should never be idly opened and closed without purpose; this is believed to cause bad luck.
• Western Europe
  • As iron was believed to ward off fairies, British parents traditionally hung a pair of iron scissors over cradles to keep fairies away. Sometimes the scissors were kept open to make the shape of a cross for extra protection.[38]
• North America
  • United States
    • In New Orleans, some believed that putting an open pair of scissors underneath your pillow at night was a sound method for sleeping well, even if one is cursed.[39]
• Eastern Europe
  • In some Eastern European countries, it is believed that leaving scissors open causes fights and disagreements within a household.
• China
  • In China, it is believed that to give scissors to a friend or loved one is to be cutting ties with them.

Scissors have been used in the sciences for various purposes, including descriptions of animals or natural features.

Animals named after scissors include:

• Birds
  • The scissor-tailed flycatcher of North and Central America.
  • The scissor-tailed hummingbird
  • The scissor-tailed kite, a bird that is widespread throughout Africa.
  • The scissor-tailed nightjar of South America.
• Fish
  • The scissor-tail rasbora, several species of fish that are commonly used for freshwater aquariums.[40][41]