If you've been paying attention you will know I 've been making a good investment in equipment and training. 

Last week was a trip down to somerset the land of cider. Due to poor decisions I didn't bring any back.

Though that was not the main reason for my visit.

I was attending a 4 day course on sharpening training. It was at the only Wolff approved training centre in Europe.

Who are Wolff?

The worlds largest makers of sharpening equipment. If you've seen someone sharpening scissors then you've probably seen them using a piece of Wolff equipment.

Day 1- Theory and knifes

The first day of the course covered the basic theory of sharpening anything really as well as the basics of running a sharpening business. Then onto the practical and fun stuff of actually sharpening stuff. 

First of all was knife sharpening on the Tormek. I didn't get on well with their method of sharpening on the tormek as they worked from above and behind the machine. I am used to working infront of the machine. 

The way of deburring and honing them however I do like and that is the way I will be doing knifes from now on

Day 2 - Theory of scissors

Its a lot more complicated then you think. I'll create a page about it on my website someday, expect nerdiness.

First up was bevel edge scissors on the TAS (twice as sharp system) which is reasonably simple and I am happy with as I've had the standard TAS for the past month and I've been using it for household scissor which it excels on.

Next was semi-bevel edge scissors which are a bit more complicated as you need to strip the scissors and do some work on flat stones to maintain the correct profile of cutting edge as well as using the TAS system.

After mastering the basics of these two it was adding the next step of adding micro serrations using the Corru-Gator. It does ONE job but it does it remarkably well. So much so I've ordered one and it should be here soon.

And what are Micro serrations?

They are tiny teeth added to grooming scissors to strengthen the edge and to stop hair from sliding.

Day 3 - Clipper blades

Another quick bit of theory it was on with the practical. After stripping and setting blades a few times we then moved onto the big red which is used to put the correct hollow grinder into combs and cutters.

After learning the proper technique it was onto to rebuild and testing the blades on a clipper machine.

I had been given a box full of clipper blades by a customer to take down so I had a lot of practise at these until the end of the day

At this point we said goodbye to one of the others on the course as the basic course was over.

Day 4 - Advanced scissor sharpening

This was a day purely on high end convex ground scissors which are popular with hairdressers and barbers.

So onto the hira-to flat hone which is a guided manual machine. It uses a arm to stop you going beyond the minimum angle but the rest of the sharpening is down to your own skills with plenty of scope to make a massive mess of it.

I haven't bought THIS machine, I've bought something quite similar but we can reveal that when I gets here .

At this point I departed from the course with the remaining pair spending a day practising what had been covered over the week.

Should I of done the extra day?

It wouldn't hurt but as I have most of the machines already I felt I could spend Friday more productively 

That’s another post

Or two