Scissors

Scissors, also called shears, are a hand-operated cutting tool made of a pair of pivoting blades whose sharpened edges slide against each other when the handles on the far side of the pivot are squeezed shut, dividing the material caught between them by combined cutting and shearing action. They are used across the crafts on thin materials such as paper, cardboard, cloth, thread, metal foil, and cord, with specialized forms shaped for particular fabrics or cuts. Scissors of iron are depicted in use in China by the Han dynasty, and the Hangzhou firm Zhang Xiaoquan, founded in 1663, is among the oldest continuously operating scissor manufacturers in the world. In 1761 the Sheffield cutler Robert Hinchliffe is credited with producing the first pair of modern scissors made of hardened and polished cast steel, the manufacturing step that set the pattern for the pivoted steel scissors used in sewing and needlework rooms today.