I heard that one can sharpen scissors by cutting through aluminum foil. Has anyone used this method and does it work? I tried it out with my little swiss knife scissors and it seems to be sharper. Just wondering if there’s a better-preferred method when it comes to sharpening scissors?
That might hone the scissors but I have never heard that one before? Honing the edge of a blade is straightening out the edge so the sharp part it perpendicular to the thing you are trying to cut. Sharpening is removing the edge of a blade by removing material and creating a new edge. The tinfoil might realign the edge but is probably not the best DIY method. If the scissors cannot be taken apart, the best method is to get a pull through with a ceramic rod like the Fiskar’s one or you can get ceramic rods for very inexpensive on eBay and hone each side like a knife. If you are in a bind you can use the unglazed bottom ring of a ceramic plate/mug/vessel to hone a blade and use a brown paper bag or bare cardboard to strop it. Brown paper bags have a pretty good grit which is why they can dull blades quickly.
Oh okay, and I have lots of ceramic plates and mugs. I mean who doesn't have excess plates and mugs lol. I never knew about stropping with a brown paper bag or cardboard. I'm gonna try it out. Regarding rods and such, I only have the following 3 items atm. I have a rod sharpener for serrated knives that is in the mini Smith's sharpener that I think will work as a ceramic rod?
Look at the edge of your blade, if it visually has bends in the edge, or you can feel them with your nail, make sure you hone it on that steel or something ceramic first, to make it straight. The pull through on the Smith are set for a double bevel edge, where as scissors are single bevel. The rod on the Smith will work for the scissors. Take a permanent marker and color the edge of the blade on the scissors. If you have the correct angle, the marker will be removed where you want the edge to be. The remaining marker can be cleaned up with alcohol. A good visual is to fold a square piece of paper in half, to make a triangle. Then using the same point again, fold it for another skinnier triangle. This is 22.5 degrees which is about the angle you relooking for when working with scissor blades.
These work fine for tough ups and you can see visually how the rod contacts the blades.
the sharpmaker is the best thing that I have found for sharpening scissors.
I never found the aluminum foil method to work.
Alright, will do the techniques described and finally get my scissors to sharpen. It is true when they say “a dull blade is more dangerous than a sharpen blade”! 
Yeah, I didn’t feel like it really worked when cutting foil lol. Seems like one has to cut a lot of foil before one sees results. That Sharpmaker looks like a good tool to have also. It’s Spyderco brand and I heard they are pretty good? Will add it to my “Check It Out Soon” list. 
Sharp knives/tools are always safer. When you cut yourself, it’s a cleaner cut :). When I was a kid, I would secretly whittling with my mother’s good sewing scissors. Well one time I stuck it into my elbow about an inch or so and it bled too much to keep it secret. She was pissed about the scissors (and as an adult with sewing scissors I understand…) and my dad took me to GI Joe’s to get my first SAK. I haven’t had an empty pocket since.
As far as the Sharpmaker, Lansky, Edge Pro ect, none of those worked particularly well for me and I prefer whetstones, but they all seem to work well for other people and accomplish the same task. It’s just different ways to go about it. The Sharpmaker will work better (as xxo stated) for small scissors/blades and is relatively inexpensive.
Ouch, hope the elbow scar is still not around. I think nothing beats good old fashion elbow grease when sharpening knives. I heard the Japanese take hours to sharpen their sushi knives!
Okay, back when I was a kid I got hold of a pair of scissors and I went to cut the live wires lighting up the mirror bulbs in the washroom! 
Guess what happened next lol? I got the shock of my life! I don’t know why I when to cut it but I think it’s because I had and still have itchy fingers. Nowadays you won’t catch me cutting live wires with scissors no more that’s for sure. 
I don’t know where you heard that. You may not be fully understanding how Google works. There is no material out there that you can cut with scissors that is going to sharpen them. Your scissors may appear shinier but they are definitely not sharper after cutting aluminum foil.
Yeah, it didn’t seem to be that sharp the last time I tried cutting foil. I thought the foil trick was well known? I saw the foil trick a while back online and even now if you search there are lots of articles and videos about this foil trick. I think what they are trying to put across is to use foil if you are in a bind and have nothing else around maybe? Either way, I always go back to using stones or EDC ones.
I took a somewhat dull pair of scissors and applied the blades to a honing rod. A handful of strokes on each of the two sides. Seemed to do the trick. The scissors resumed easy slicing of paper. The only time I’d go with sharpening (removing steel material to restore the edge) is if the scissors had been abused on tough materials. Dull scissors from normal use over a long time is usually remedied just by honing.
try steel wool.
i would have to think that to sharpen a material you’d need something as hard or harder to do it.
that said I can finish an edge nicely with some stones i have
Speaking of stones, I got my Smith’s stone block about 10 yrs ago. I’m thinking this stone might be a finishing stone because it feels quite smooth? That means I need to go get a rough stone block because one needs a rough to get started and a smooth to finish the blade? Man sharpening knives is easy but not easy!
For sharpening scissors you should really only be working one face on each leg… and that is not the inside face. If you keep wearing away the inside faces you’ll end up with a gap and crappy scissors that won’t cut
Okay, I’ll make sure to do the correct face on each leg. I’ll have lots of material to try now from ceramic rods to steel wool to stones and back to ceramic rods!
i don;t see any reason that would work
Its an easy answer, people love easy answers.