Scissor Me Timbers!

Sometimes I get projects from observing the needs of others. In this case my wife was disappointed that a pair of scissors she bought for trimming threads and cutting stitches, wasn't really pointy enough for the latter. So with her permission, it was time to operate!

Here is our patient, we can rebuild it, we have the dremel.

First step is to make a reference mark on both sides of the scissors. I used this to mark where to clamp and as a reference while grinding. I oriented the blade so that the point was inline with the jaws. This way while I'm grinding I can use the jaws as a guide. 

When grinding a point, it's best to make sure that the rotation of the dremel is naturally moving you toward the point. Using this to my advantage allowed me to get a really nice even grind and a really sharp point. Also I made sure to only grind a little bit at a time using the low speed setting on the dremel, since getting the metal too hot will destroy the tempering. This would decrease the edge lifetime, and nobody likes dull scissors!

Using the guidelines I was able to make the points come out even on both sides, turning these ordinary scissors into a precision destroyer of stitches.

Definitely don't run with these scissors :)

Belt Buckle Battle

I recently purchased an awesome survival belt on Amazon from Para-Cord-Belts. This belt is sweet, It looks great, feels great, and the knot work on this belt is fantastic. I was looking for a survival wearable that I would actually use and this did not disappoint. I would highly recommend them if you are in the market.

Awesome Paracord Belt by Para-Cord-Belts

The only negative on this belt is not the belt itself, but the buckle. The buckle is a simple version of a military style belt buckle, a functional style that I generally prefer. But after a few days I found that the belt buckle dug into my belly.


































Now, I certainly could have gone out and bought another buckle, but where is the fun in that?

I first removed the buckle from the belt, and then with a pair of needle nose pliers I carefully bent the tabs outward and removed the strap grip. After that, I used my handy bench vise to bend the tabs most of the way around to the other side. Then, I put the strap grip back in place and bent the tabs the rest of the way with the needle nose pliers. Be careful on the orientation! The claws on the strap grip should face toward the buckle when in the open position.

Now that the tab bending operation was complete, I had another problem. The top part of the buckle could not fasten since the strap grip was now in the way. This sounds like a job for Dremel man! After changing into my super gear of gloves and some eye protection, I first used a scribe for lines on each of the sides of the decorative lip. I then clamped the buckle in my vise between two small pieces of sacrificial wood and went to work with my Dremel and cut off wheel. This gave me two cuts into the face of the buckle that I used to scribe the face cut. After remounting the buckle I lightly went over the line with the cutoff wheel.

To do this kind of task where any miss will be incredibly evident, make sure to get your hands in a position where you can slowly lower and raise the Dremel. You need to be able to rest your elbow or wrist on something solid for this to work. Then when you are ready, start on the center of the work, lowering the Dremel until you feel initial contact and no further. Maintain this height as you trace the scribe line on both sides. Try not to raise the wheel out of the groove, it becomes very hard to get back in the right spot with a running Dremel. So now that you are still in the groove and the initial line has been cut on both sides, move back to the center of the groove and then lower the cutting wheel a little more and repeat the process until you are all the way through.  Practice makes perfect!

To finish the project, I took a sanding cylinder and removed the rough edges and remaining burrs left from the cutting process. The same rules apply here about keeping your work and your hands steady. One slip and you will mar the finish, but the sanding wheel is generally easier to keep in control. Once that was complete, I put on a buffing wheel and gave the buckle a nice polish.

Tune in next week, Same Dremel Channel, Same Dremel Time!