Handle Repair

Sustainability

Project:

This is not the usual project I would put up but it is the sort I've been doing over the years at home and wanted to document it showing my process, thoughts and perhaps could be useful for someone. This started when I decided it was too much trouble to grab a pair of shears and tried to cut a branch of rosemary with a small pair of scissors that were close to hand. and the handle evitably broke. Now these were very cheap scissors that I had for year, but somehow they were good at cutting and being a person that doesn't like to throw things out, I hunted for ways to repair them. I found great ideas, using 3D printers, carving out of wood, laser cutting, but none of those I had access to easily. There is a 3D printer at my work place but the thought of figuring out how to use, setting it up, and melted plastic was not appealing.

Process:

This started when I decided it was too much trouble to grab a pair of shears and tried to cut a branch of rosemary with a small pair of scissors that were close to hand. and the handle evitably broke.

left side drawing of a hand holding a pair of scissors cutting a branch, arrow point to, right side photograph of scissors laying flat on a white background and broken handle
a sketch of that moment before the break, Scissors and its broken handle

Now these were very cheap scissors that I had for years, and not the prettiest of types either, but somehow they were good at cutting and being a person that doesn't like to throw things out, I hunted for ways to repair them. I found great ideas, using 3D printers, carving out of wood, laser cutting, but none of those I had access to easily. There is a 3D printer at my work place but the thought of figuring out how to use it, setting it up, and having melted plastic was not appealing.

Using wood as a material would be my first choice but it would take me a while to carve so I thought cardboard could be a good alternative. The carton that held shop bought mushrooms was ideal as it was thin enough for me to cut using another pair of scissors. I could have used a thicker cardboard cutting with a stanley knife but liked the idea of building up the layers, rather like plywood. A simple trace around the handle that wasn't broken was done several times, and cut out.

photograph of a flatten cardboard food carton with scissors with one broken handle and a cardboard template of the handle
Mushroom cardboard carton with a template of the handle

There were 8 layers altogether and the middle 2 had a portion cut out to fit the scissor part. PVA glue was brushed on each layer and clamped down with a press.

photograph of carboard layers of the scissors handle
layers of cardboard aligned and stacked
photograph of carboard layers of the scissors handle clamped in a flower press
Using a flower press to apply pressure to the glued layers.

Conclusion:

Altogether this project took less than a couple hours (plus some drying time) using materials I had at hand, and was deeply satisfying that I could involve my kids in the making as all materials and techiques were safe, and the scissors could be functional again.

Repaired scissors in use

...And I think looks better.

The fully repaired pair of scissors