We first mentioned the Fiskars Cuts + More scissors back in November and ordered one for review and personal use shortly after it was released. To my disappointment, the scissors’ performance was much lower than expected, and so I returned them to Amazon for a refund. Here’s why:
In theory, Fiskars came up with a great design for the Cuts + More “5 in 1” multipurpose scissors. The scissors’ blades are removable for cleaning, with one blade specially shaped into a usable knife blade. A curve in the blade was added to provide additional leverage for cutting rope, and similar materials. Fiskars even added a built-in sharpener and a box-opening nib in the scissors’ sheath.
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In practice, the scissors’ “power notch” is a severe design flaw. When trying to use the scissors on any material, the two blades snag at the leading edge of the power notch. I worked the scissors back and forth and tried cutting a few things to see if it helped, but it didn’t.
There were no visible burs or defects on the blades, so I was puzzled as to why the blades were catching each other. Looking over the scissors, it seems that the issue was unavoidable. The only solution would be to bend the blades away from each other slightly, but this would greatly reduce the cutting performance of the scissors.
So I then tried using the sharpener that was built into the sheath. Not only did this not help at all, but it added burs to the blade that made it catch even more. Knocking down the burs didn’t help either, and the blades continued to catch.
There was another slight issue. Opening the scissors too far made the blades separate from the pivot. While I actually prefer scissors whose blades can be separated for cleaning and sharpening, the feature’s implementation on the Cuts + More was not ideal for my medium sized hands.
Looking at the scissor’s reviews on Amazon, I’m not the only one disappointed with these scissors as most of the reviewers complain about the same issue.
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Right now I cannot recommend these scissors at all. They do have great potential as general purpose DIY and multipurpose scissors, but not until the blades are redesigned to fix the catching issue. Maybe the issue has already been fixed, but I’m not going to try out a second pair of these scissors to find out.
Fiskars Cuts + More Multipurpose Scissors via Amazon
Product Info via Fiskar
fred
Are you left-handed – not that it matters for many tools – but it can for scissors.
Left-handed scissors and shears for lefties are an eye-opener – Not sure – but I think it may have to do with the geometry of the handles an how that translates to the blades – forcing them slightly apart or together.
Scissors are one of those tools – where high quality inlaid blade shears use to cost a lot compared to now. When you bought them from a supplier to the trade (like the folks that supplied the garment industy on 7th Avenue) they were honed and adjusted before delivery – and you could bring them back for tune-up. Delbon and Westfal were 2 suppliers on 30th Street in Manhattan – but I suspect that they may be long gone
fred
Did a search – and found Henry Westpfal (correct spellin now) is on 25th Street
http://www.yelp.com/biz/henry-westpfal-and-co-new-york
Chuchundra
Yes, I got these for Christmas and they were a real disappointment. They barely work as scissors, either getting caught or coming apart when you try to use them as such.
Oh well, too bad.
Stuart
@ Fred, I’m right handed (despite what my 9th grade biology teacher thought due to my really bad handwriting). I’m holding the scissors with my left hand in the photo for scale purposes and to lift them above the table while I operated the camera.
Thanks for the info about Henry Westpfal, I’ll make a note to check them out next time I’m in Manhattan.
Chuchundra, they can probably be made usable with a little modification. Or, separate the blades and you still have a very usable and robust knife blade.
Bear
Designed in the USA,manufactured in China.
Randy_che
I have a pair of kitchen shears with the same design. Wustoff, I think. I hate that notch. It doesn’t cut right at all. Maybe it’s OK for bones (I don’t cut a lot of bones), but I can’t even cut paper if it gets into the notch.
I use a $3 pair of Chinese kitchen shears instead of the “nice” ones because they work better. Grrrr.
Mary Craig
I have to disagree; I find these scissors incredibly useful.
They live in the kitchen drawer and are used constantly.
They cut everything from cloth to clothes line and garden twine. They’re used to open boxes, to safely cut open those horrid sealed plastic packagings, lift ring pulls and open bottles. I used them to cut the felt when I recovered a shed, and to cut up old jeans into square patches for a throw as well.
I use them to cut roses and to trim salad leaves too.
They are the at hand ‘scissors’, are always sharp and always so easy to clean.
Thing is though, I’m female, and I have little-ish hands. These scissors are comfortable for me. I can’t open them wide enough one handed for the blades to separate, and that’s an issue that folks seem to be complaining about.
Basically I think they’re housewifes’ shears 🙂
I found this review thread when looking for another pair to give as a present, and felt that the other viewpoint should be available too.
Kind regards,
M