#ancient scissors

   The drapers’ guild, a merchant cutting a piece of cloth with spring-style scissors. Model of Piacenza Cathedral, sculpture, dating from 1122.

  The ancestors of modern scissors, spring-style scissors, can be traced back to the late bronze age.  They consisted of a long rod of bronze with a blade on each end which was then bent into a U shape.  The blades slightly overlap each other with enough tension to be pushed together to cut, then spring back once released.

      Top Left:  Roman-style scissors used in the Mediterranean area above all for sheep-shearing but also for other everyday tasks.  Such scissors underwent hardly any changes in structure from the ninth to the nineteenth centuries.

Top Right:  Working-class type scissors and the first example of serrated scissors for guided shearing.  Italy, nineteenth century.

Bottom Left:  Small silk-weavers’ scissors.  Italy, nineteenth century.

Bottom Right:  Household scissors in a decorated case.  Italy, about 1550.

  Scissors as we know them today, made of two arms pinned together by a central pivot, date back to the 10th century.

  Shears, french sixteenth century goldsmith’s. Reproduced in an engraving by Langlois and Willemin.

      Left:  Iron scissors. From the Eastern Mediterranean, fourteenth century.

Right:  Large tailoring scissors, France, nineteenth century.

   Engraved scissors, 1620, preserved in the Louvre Museum, Paris.  Engraving by I.H. De Hefner Alteneck.

  While the basic design principle of spring scissors has remained the same, these simple snips have undergone many changes and improvements over the years.  Heavy iron has been replaced with high carbon steel, treated with an ibushi coating, making them stronger, lighter and resistant to rust.

  The Yujiro Brand Thread Cutter is a modern version of the most ancient style of scissors.  Its spring form makes it ideal for cutting thread ends and notches into fabric while sewing.

  The Yujiro Brand Thread Cutter pictured here, uses the ancient and simple compact spring design to make snipping while sewing fast and easy