kitchen scissors

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.

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.

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'!

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

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!

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.

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 ......

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.

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

ps I mean uncooked chicken bones.