kitchen scissors

ps I mean uncooked chicken bones.

I yse poultry scissors for chicken carcasses and any old scissors for everything else.

If your current scissors are sturdy, get them sharpened, Tricia. I did that with some old but well made dressmaking scissors and wow, what a difference. My local shoemender/key cutters did it for a few pounds, £3.50 or something.

Slightly off topic but I am always in trouble re our kitchen scissors. I take them up to the allotment, open hen feed sacks and chop garden twine with them. As they are the only L handed pair in the house, and I am the only left handed I don't see it as a problem specially as I put them in the dishwasher. My sous chef thinks otherwise ......

SueDonim - went to the market this morning, but the the man who sharpens knives, shears, secateurs etc. Wasn't there.
I think that's going to be the answer.
Izabella - I think that's how mine got blunt too they wouldn't even cut butter now.
I do have a secret pair hidden away that I use only to cut my fringe.

I had a pair of poultry shears years ago and could really do with another pair. I have several pairs of scissors which are abused used both in the house and in the garden. The largest pair will cut through the joints of a chicken but not the bones. I have managed to sharpen them myself thus far but it's not ideal; they are better done by a professional. What annoyed the hell out of me a couple of weeks ago was to see DH trimming his nose hair with my best fly tying scissors! He was severely chastised!

I feel your pain, Greyduster. Woe betide anyone found cutting paper with my dressmaking scissors!

If anyone is looking for british-made scissors, these are gorgeous. Not cheap but they'll last a lifetime and then be passed on. www.ernestwright.co.uk/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=12

SueDonim I could not agree more about Ernest Wright. They have been making scissors here in Sheffield for over a hundred years, and you would have to go a long way to better them. One of our original 'Little Mesters'!

Oh wow, you're acquainted with them, Greyduster? How wonderful! I hadn't heard of them until a year or two ago when a film showing how they manufactured scissors hit the headlines. I ordered three pairs. A kitchen pair, some nail scissors and snippers for craft work. I needed them, you understand.

Trying to cut through poultry bones with kitchen scissors will blunt them very quickly and, quite probably, misalign the blades or even break the scissors; use proper poultry shears which will also make the job easier, painless and quicker. Use kitchen scissors for dicing ham and bacon, chopping fresh herbs, etc.