The daily goings on in the world of sharpening. Discussing sales, marketing, scissor sharpening, flat hones, clipper blade sharpening, sharpening training and equipment. This is the sharpening blog!
The other day a scissor sharpener sent me a pair of shears that were bent all out of whack. Unfortunately the bend was in the ride area of the blade. The ride area is the area of the blade just behind the early entry of the cutting-edge. This meant that to fix these shears I had to bend the blade over the screw hole, not an easy task and not something I recommend doing unless you absolutely have to. In this case though we had no choice. The sharpener's customer wanted the shear fixed if possible because both she and the sharpener couldn't find an exact replacement and she really liked this shear. That's where I came in and I'll show you what I had to do to fix this shear in the video below:
For anyone new to scissor sharpening, here is a picture below of what I was talking about in the video when I mentioned that the sharpener had forgotten to flip the Ookami® clamp over causing the cutting edge of the blade to bite into the wheel.
This next picture below shows the proper orientation of the blade to the wheel. Always make sure your clamp is in the honing position one polishing to share on the Ookami Gold® System.
As always, if you have any questions about sharpening or the sharpening business in general I can be reached at 864-381-8697 or otenews@gmail.com. Also, if you're thinking about buying sharpening equipment, give me a call. I know where all the best deals are.
I get a large number of requests for information on this new tool for adjusting tension on clipper blades without having to take the blade all the way apart. I thought a video would be more clear than just a write up. Here is how the Wolff clipper blade tension adjusting STAT Tool works. It's simple to use, will speed up adding tension to blades when sharpening clipper blades, and works great. If you'd like to purchase this tool call Wolff at 800-888-3832. The part number is WCL0001 and the price is just $24.10. See how it works below:
Wolff has scheduled their first show for the 2011 season. It will be held on Saturday May 7th and Sunday May 8th at the Crown Plaza Park Central Suites in Dallas, Texas.
The show times will be 9am - 6pm on Saturday, and 9am - 3pm on Sunday. There will also be a separate vendor room that will be open each day so you can spend time with a number of our supporting vendors. The price to attend is just $89.00 if you sign up by March 24th, and then $109 thereafter. The price includes access to all seminars and the vendor room.
Speakers will be Bob Schiessl, Bruce Nihart, and myself. We will be touching on all aspects of sharpening shears and clipper blades, business growth, and increasing sales.
Seating will be limited to just 50, so sign up right away to get the discount $89 dollar rate and your seat. If you have any questions, give Wolff a call at 800-888-3832. Looking forward to seeing many of you at the show!
Great video showing how shears are made! Note all the hand work that goes into a pair of shears along with the automation. Many beauty shears require even more hand work. Videos like this dispel many of the myths and rumors that shears have twists "purposely" worked into their edges and "specific" edge radius. While all shears have some form of edge radius, most don't have an "exact" edge radius because of the hand work. The same holds true for twisted edges. This too is due to the hand work and will vary from shear to shear. Questions? Shoot me an email at otenews@gmail.com. Let me know what you think of the video. I think National Geographic did a wonderful job. I've worked many of these machines myself at some of the companies that manufacture shears for Wolff Industries.
A Quick Easy Way to Improve Yourself as a Sharpener What's one way you can improve yourself as a Sharpener? Education. One good place to go to get a little education that will not only make you look smart to your stylists and groomers, but will provide you with information that will allow you to help them too is Andis' YouTube Channel. Here you will find a number of videos on blade care, clipper care, and more. The info you'll find here is great for everyday conversations you have with customers as a Sharpener and good for finding ideas for classes you may be teaching if you speak at beauty or grooming schools.
Here is Andis' latest video:
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Okay. Here is the flipside of inside work. Bad inside work is just as bad, if not worse, than no inside work. Glen received these from a sharpener that picked them up from a new customer. He sent them in for two reasons:
1. To show us.
2. To see if ANTHING could be done to at least make them workable.
In this case, we had to tell this sharpener these shears were dead in the water.
Not Sure What's Wrong Here? Let Me Point Out a Few Issues:
1. Way overworked in the ride area behind the screw.
2. Way too much pressure at the tip. This and set mostly caused the wipe out at the tip.
3. Not sure what happened to the set, but bad set is PART of the reason for the wavy inside ride line.
What Should You Do If You Run Into a Shear Like This in the Field?
Well, the videos are up and here is the post I promised. I had a heck of a time with this pair of scissors. Quite a bit of inside work needed to be done, and the angles were all wrong. We got 'em fixed up pretty darn good though and it only took 3 YouTube videos to chronicle some of the sharpening. :) Let's have a look:
Before we start, if you're getting this via email and can't see the videos, click here. Video 1: Sharpening the First Scissor Blade on the Hira-To®
Video 2: Finishing the Sharpening on the Hira-To® and Starting the Second Scissor Blade on the Ookami Gold®
Video 3: Finishing Up on the Ookami Gold® and Testing the Shear
In the videos you see I had to put a LOT of time into working the inside of the shear to reestablish a good inside ride line. In the future I need to do a video that really focuses on this.
I hope these videos help. If you have any questions please feel free to call me or email me, my contact info is in the sidebar on the right. Good sharpening! :)
I've been working on the Lefty Repair Video I mentioned on Jim Sharp yesterday. I have it all edited and I'm in the process of formatting it for YouTube. I hope to have it up on the Blog either tomorrow or Monday.
In the meantime though, I'd like you to review a video I uploaded to the Wolff YouTube Channel last year showing how to use the Wolff Convexing Clamp on the Ookami Gold® Sharpening system. You'll want to watch this because it goes into a little deeper detail on what I will be showing in the Ookami® convexing part of this upcoming video.
The Wolff Show is this weekend. If you'd like to follow some of the goings-on, a good place to do so will be my Twitter Page. Here's a link that will get you there: http://twitter.com/jimsharp
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the Wolff Show in Greenville, South Carolina on July 17th and 18th is officially sold out. Wolff is starting a waiting list though, so if you'd still like to try to come be sure to call right away. The higher up you are on the waiting list the better chance you have of getting a seat.
I will be sitting down with David and Bill this next week to put together the show schedule. I will list it here when it's done. I look forward to see all of you that signed up. If you have any questions, just give me a call.
IT'S SHOW TIME!!! That's right folks! Time again for another Wolff Show!
Where? Good ol' Greenville, South Carolina. It's one town over from the Wolff Headquarters in Spartanburg and a great place to visit. To check out some of the things to see and do in one of my favorite places on earth, click here.
When? July 17th - 18th, 2010. I'll have a full schedule for you soon.
Which hotel is this? The Greenville/Spartanburg Airport Marriott. For more info on the hotel itself, click here.
How much? That's the great part! It's only costs $89.00 to attend all the seminars and gain access to the vendor room. To book your seat, call Wolff at 800-888-3832. Don't wait too long though! Seating is limited to only 46! So if you want to come, sign up right away! If you choose to stay at the hotel, they've given Wolff a special room rate of $89.00 per night on a limited number of rooms. To see what the rooms look like, click here. To book a room, call 864-297-0300 and ask for the Wolff Industries Rate while these rooms are still available.
What's gonna go on? Let me tell ya...
Sharpening on Wolff Equipment I'll be doing some indepth training on the Hira-To®, the Ookami Gold®, and the Twice as Sharp®. I'll also be showing how the Corru-Gator and Rotary Blade Sharpeners work as well. Throughout all of these seminars I'll be peppering in some shears that...well...let's just say they'll be "fun" to work on in front of a group *shuddering already*. So whether you're a newbie or a seasoned sharpener, you'll find my presentations interesting.
Clipper Blade Sharpening As of right now, Bob Schiessl plans to be at the show to go over clipper blade sharpening with you. Bob's been at this for over 20 years and I've seen him teach people more tricks in a hour than most sharpeners could teach a person in a week.
Nipper Sharpening Mike Borsch will show all of us how to put his nipper sharpener to work. More and more we're seeing Day Spas pop up that offer one stop shopping for beauty needs. That means more places will appreciate it if you can service nail techs as well as stylists. Come learn how.
Up Your Income with more Sales One of Wolff's top selling sharpeners will be at the show to share some of the methods he uses to sell shears every day; three to five shear or more per day as a matter of fact and how you can do this too. He set a business goal this past year in the six figures and beat it! Whether you're looking to sell shears, or just yourself, Bruce will teach you a number of tips and trick you can take to the bank, literally.
Separate Vendor Room For the first time since Wolff has started doing these smaller shows, we'll have all of our supporting vendors in a separate room from the seminars. So if you'd like to spend a little more time looking at some of the lines of shears we carry, or some of the other equipment Wolff sells besides our own, you can visit with the owners and representatives of those companies at your leisure. The vendors that plan to be at the show as of this writing are:
Wolff
Nebraska Blades
Clipper Shack
Kenchii Shears
Shark Fin Shears
Lucky Hare Shears
ProLine Shears
More are signing up as I can get in touch with them. I'll be sure to update you on this in the future. This room will also be open late on Saturday night so you can play with the machines, look at products, and socialize with us.
Wolff has set the standard in this industry when it comes to sharpening shows! Everyone that's attended in the past has had nothing but praise for the quality of the education, the time and attention Wolff and it's supporting vendors give each attendee during the show, and the fun and fellowship they get to have with their fellow sharpeners. One of my favorite parts about my job at Wolff is putting together these shows. Come join me and find out what sets the Wolff Shows apart. Call me 800-888-3832 or email me at Jim@wolffind.com if you have questions. I look forward to hearing from you!
Image of Greenville at top of post provided by linkerjpatrick via Flickr.com
I received a request a while back from a fellow scissors sharpener asking me to show how to match tips on a flat hone. What he meant by matching tips is sometimes you'll find a shear with one blade that is slightly longer than the other. For the blades to cut properly the tips need to match up. You correct this by grinding the tips back until they're even. There also will come a time when you'll need to flatten the tips of the shears down because they've become too pointy after numerous sharpenings. You'd use the same techniques I show on the Wolff Twice as Sharp® and the Wolff Hira-To® Flat Hone in the video below to do this as well. Let me know if you have any questions.
If you are receiving this by email, click here to view video.
Yup. It's been a little while. Sorry about that, but every once and a while I need a little sabbatical from all the writing I do. Especially when I'm in the middle of a big new website project like the one I'm working on right now. (I'll tell you more about that in the future)
Anyway, time to jump back in the saddle and get going again. I few weeks ago I shot a video showing how to sharpen true left hand shears on the Wolff Hira-To® Scissors Sharpening System. A number of people have already viewed the video, but I wanted to post it here for you to view as well.
In this video, I show you how to set your Hira-To® fixture up to sharpen either right or left hand shears. I also show you how to tell the difference between a right handed shear and a true left hand one. If you have any questions concerning any part of this video, please call me at 800-888-3832 or 864-909-3381 and leave a message with your phone number and email. If you'd like to email me a question, my email is Jim@wolffind.com.
If you are receiving this by email, please click here to view the video.
I shot the video below over a week ago and I've been intending to write about this, but it's been so busy I've had a hard time getting away. Finally things have slowed down just a little, so here is a run down of what brought this video about.
A scissor sharpener called me and asked if I might be able to help him with a problem. He had made a mistake on one of his machines and damaged the blade of one of his customers shears. He said it was bent and didn't feel he could fix it. Seemed like a challenge, so I told him to send it on.
When I received it I saw what he meant! Boy was this shear bent in a bad spot!!! Right at the early entry! In fact, it was bend so badly it almost looked like the shear had a full bend of set in it, but in the wrong direction. I did my best to let you see this in the video below, so I'm going to send you there to view what the blade looked like and what I had to do to fix it. So watch the video now, then read the rest.
If you are receiving this post by email and having trouble viewing the video, click here.
As I said in the video, I had to do some more work to finish this shear; so I went into the sharpening training center and started to resharpen it. While doing so though, I noticed that there was a snake in the blade (this is a bend in the blade that looks like an S) about a 1/4" back from the tip. The blade also looked fatigued so I really didn't want to do a lot of bending on it because I knew it would break. I did a few test passes over my water stone after I bent as much of the snake out of the blade as I dared, but I still didn't have the shear set to the point where I could hone a consistent rideline without causing an unsightly wave. Fortunately, I had a trick up my sleeve, the Ookami Honing Blocks.
These blocks are much more forgiving than water stones and coming in handy when you have a shear with inconsistent set problems. I worked the inside of the blades on these blocks, reformed an acceptable rideline, and then polished and reassembled the shear. It cut well when I was done.
All in all I had about 50 minutes in this shear. A little too long for my taste. If I had run into a shear that was damaged this bad in the field I would have sold the customer a new one. Remember, I often say that there's a big difference between scissors repair and scissors maintenance. Repair takes a lot longer and is less profitable and often a heavily damaged shear just isn't worth saving, but working on shears like this is also part of the fun and learning experience in the business of scissors sharpening. While this may not have been a profitable 50 minutes, imagine if I had been a sharpener trying to get into a salon and someone handed me a challenge like this. When I fixed it, do you think that would carry some weight? You bet it would!
Having the right tools and knowledge is essential if your goal is to become a successful sharpener, and two tools in particular saved the day in this case; the scissors press and the Ookami Honing Block Kit. Concerning the knowledge side of this equation, dealing with a problem shear like this requires sharpening training and/or years of experience. This kind of training is something I can help you with. So if you'd like to find out more about the sharpening training I offer, give me a call at Wolff at 800-888-3832 or email me at Jim@wolffind.com. Also know that I'm available for sharpening support as well. So please call or email me if you have questions concerning anything I did in this post, or with any other sharpening questions you may have.
If you're in the market for any of the Wolff sharpening machines, be
sure to give me a call before you buy. I know all the best places to buy
at the best price! Call 864-381-8697 or email me at otenews@gmail.com.
This may seem elementary, but I wanted to make this video because it will give me a place to send sharpeners when they struggle with this issue. A couple of problems I see when sharpeners sharpen either low-end grooming or barber shears on the Twice as Sharp®, is they either gouge out the early entry of a shear or they round the tips. This is just a short video showing how to keep from doing this.
If you're viewing this via email, click here to view the video.
This is just a quick video that shows why I live stream from my office most days. I NEVER would have gotten this fellows order right if I couldn't have shown him the machine to figure out what was broken. English was his second language and we were having trouble getting on the same page. A video, like a picture, can sometimes be worth a 1000 words. To see the part where I show the machine to my customer, click in the progress bar between the play/pause arrow and the time clock until you get about 4 minutes into the video. The sweet spot is a little more than half way along the bar. I tried to trim the clip, but couldn't load the video into my editing program in a recognizable format.
Drop by and visit me online during my work day. The address for my live stream is:
You won't be able to talk to me through this connection, but the is a chat box you can use to say hi or ask a question. Check it out when you have a chance.
On Monday of this week I had the chance to spend some time with Mike and Pam Borsch from Clipper Shack. Mike came to show me the ins-and-outs of sharpening nippers on the Clipper Shack Nipper Sharpening System. Wolff has recently started carrying this unit and since we sell it now, I wanted to get a better feel for how to operate it.
I had a great time with Mike and was glad to see that they had a nice time at Wolff too. Take a look at the quick email they sent me.
It was very nice to get to meet everyone at Wolff. We enjoyed our visit at Wolff Industries, and your Spartanburg facility is very impressive. You have a training room to die for! Your work environment is professional, but also fun and delightful. Both Mike and I were impressed!
We could tell that everyone who works at Wolff really cares about the company and its products. And all your products you carry at wolff are really great. I feel all sharpeners should take the time to go to Wolff Industries and see all the Wolff products as well as get the chance to meet the caring folks who stand behind the products. (you all are a great bunch of people)
In our opinion, sharpeners who travel to Wolff Industries to see all the products and the Wolff Sharpening facility, will gain more sharpening knowledge, and will form new sharpening friendships as well.
Jim, Thank you so much for everything, we look forward to seeing you all again. When we returned home we find snow and tempatures back in the teens. So really, your weather in SC is wayyyy better than ours!
Mike and Pam Borsch
Thanks for the kind words guys! Glad you came and I learned a lot. I look forward to doing more with you in the future.
If you'd like to find out more about the nipper sharpener, give me a call at 864-909-3381. If you'd like to talk about purchasing any of the Wolff scissors sharpening units, give me a call at 864-909-3381, tell me you're calling because you're a Jim Sharp reader, and I'll see if I can do something special for you. Thanks for reading! And don't forget to subscribe by email. To find out how, click here.
What's the value of customer service? Can it be measured? To a point...yes. Can it make or break a sale? You bet! Will most people pay extra if they feel the service is worthwhile? Definitely! So why don't more companies and salespeople make it a practice to provide good quality, helpful customer service?
We just had the opportunity to experience the Ying and Yang of the customer service conundrum here at Wolff. It involved two cell phone companies and one fantastic young lady.
The Old The company that was providing our cellular service was recently purchased. The salesperson we had before the buyout was excellent. If we had a question, she knew the answer or was willing to get an answer for us. If we needed help, she was always there. Unfortunately, after the merger she was assigned to a different area. Since she's taken her new position it's been nearly impossible to get any real help when we have a need. She's tried to help from afar, but could only do so much from where she sits now.
Well, it was time this week to renew our cell phone contact, so we gave this new provider a call. After multiple attempts to contact the lady that was supposed to be our new salesperson, we finally had to call a higher-up and complain. That got a call from our salesperson and a date to meet. When we did meet though it was very disorganized. She had no phones in hand to look at, no thoughts on what she felt might fit Wolff's needs, and very little experence in the realm of cellular service for a business. Needless to say, we were disappointed, so we did some shopping around.
Out With the Old and In With the New After making some calls, visiting some providers, and asking a lot of questions, we finally came across a breath of fresh air. Her name was Corie Seay. When we walked into her store she immediately took us under her wing and showed us all the newest technology that she felt would be a help to Wolff. She then set up an appointment to come visit Wolff and bring some other phones she though we might like. When she came for the visit, she had all her ducks in a row, phones in hand, and a colleague she felt might be of help to us as well.
After reviewing all she had and asking a few more questions, we signed on with her. Well, we signed on with AT&T that is, but really we signed on with her. She went out of her way to meet every need we had. She did a bunch of legwork prior to coming over to set up our new phones. And when she couldn't get everything done on the day came, she came the next day and finished even though it was her day off. Whoever may be reading this at AT&T, you have a truly wonderful asset in Corie. She was polite, good natured, and unbelievably helpful and knowledgeable. She should be commended.
So What's My Point? My point is, it didn't have to be this way. If the company that bought the old company we were using had just taken a little time to actually help us, we'd most likely still be with them. Because they didn't care, we moved on; and as far as I can tell, we have no plans of returning.
Customer service is important! It's what will separate us from the competition. It's what will make both existing and potential customers stand up, say wow, and sing our praises to their friends. What are you doing to provide great service to your customers? Are you wowing them? Are you giving them things to talk about? Corie inspired me talk. Make it a goal every day to inspire your customers to do the same!
For the sake of disclosure, neither AT&T or any of their employees asked me to write this post. I wrote this because these compliments were earned and were a good example for Jim Sharp readers.
I do my best to help people as much as I can. In years past, it's been a little hard to really be much help to fellow sharpeners overseas, but with the internet making the world a smaller place, it's not that hard to help pretty much anyone...anywhere.
A good example of this is my friend Theodoros from Cyprus. He has been sharpening for a number of months now and I've been helping him adjust to using his new Wolff equipment. This is an unedited e-mail he recently sent and asked me to share:
This Theo from Cyprus.
I want to thank you for convincing me to buy the Hira-to®. It is an amazing machine with vast capabilities. It provides a sharpening finish that can only compared with that of the manufacturers.
I am using it for few months now and I do not any unsatisfied customer. The contrary they all are extremely happy and they are telling it to there colleagues as well.
The support I am receiving from you is close to none. Thanks a lot once again.
Best regards
Theodoros
Okay...so maybe there was a little lost in translation at the end there. I'm hoping he meant second to none and not close to none, but you get the point. :) Theodoros is happy. So how am I able to offer helpful support to someone so far away? I do so through a very cool online site called Skype.
Skype is a free online video chat service. All a person needs to do to use it is:
1. A Skype account. This is free, but you also have a choice of paid options as well. 2. High-speed access to the internet 3. A video cam for their computer. Actually, you don't really need the cam, but if you don't have one the person you are talking to won't be able to see you. Not as much fun that way!
Through this service I've been able to show Theodoros a number of sharpening techniques I never would have been able to explain over the phone. It's been a great help to both of us.
So why am I telling you this? Well, I figured this worked so well for Theodoros, why not use it more? How 'bout it? Want to give it a try? If you'd like to connect via Skype with me and see how this service will allow me to help you, send me an email with "What's your Skype address" in the subject line or body of the email and I'll send you my Skype address. My email address is jim@wolffind.com. If you'd like to learn a little more about Skype frist, here is their website:
I'm using this service to talk to people in the UK, Austraila, New Zealand, South Africa, and Russia. There's no reason I shouldn't be helping you via online video as well. Let me know if you want to connect!
