All hail dead Elmo

Or

How to test grooming equipment

After joining a few grooming Facebook pages there is regular questions about blades or scissors not performing.

Sometimes the blade gets the blame, sometimes it’s the clipper that gets the blade, sometimes it’s the dog that gets the blame, mostly it’s the sharpener who gets the blame but it’s never the boogie.

So who can we call on these moments to help sort things out. I call upon Elmo

…..but he has to be dead.

.

.

And skinned.

As then I can use his lovely long flowing fur to test scissors, thinners, chunkers and clipper blades. As then I can see if my work is up to standard before returning it to a customer.

Of course I don’t actually do the task myself so I call upon a company who is skilled in the art of Elmo trapping as they can be quite dangerous when cornered. Those who know about biology know of the phenomenon known as aposematism where poisonous animals are brightly coloured to act as a warning. So those little red sods can give a fatal bite don’t let the big eyes, cute voice and mannerisms fool you.

But Dura from the inspection team is brave and catches them himself.

I go to JLB fabric for my dead Elmo pelts with a half meter pelt being about a tenner and I think that this would be a useful addition to any groomers toolbox.

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Using your Elmo pelt

Clipper testing

Hopefully as a groomer I won’t have to tell you how to use a clipper.

But for testing be slightly aware that elmo skin has a weave in it which can catch the ends of the comb more easily then dog or horse skin. Also as it attached to the Elmo it can easily wrinkle up.

Also elmo fur gets EVERYWHERE

Testing Scissors with your dead Elmo

As with clippers I shouldn’t have to tell you how to use them but lets not ignore the basics

The Grip

The first thing to learn is to have a nuetral grip which is easier if you have your thumb outside of the rings.

This is to give a fairer test of the scissors.

See more in this blog post about lefties

Folding

This is a pretty extreme example of a scissor folding hair.You don’t normally see this the entire blade but nearer the ends.This is where the blades don’t cut the hair but slide over it and jam it between the two blades.

Thanks anonymous customer who sent me these scissors 2 hours before this post

How it should look

The scissors should have a nice crisp cut with no hairs being caught.

Thinners and chunkers can also be tested with Elmo pelt after you have fluffed it up but I don’t have enough hands to take pictures and use thinners. If you are newish to thinners and chunkers they are just for the top layers and if you try to take big bites they will fold. Again this is very much an experience thing.

The Elmo pelt is a good way to test scissors but there is another way which can also tell you alot.

Using a single ply of tissue paper.

The way I do this is to get some cheap 2 ply toilet roll and to use my 3D printed custom bog roll holder called the >CENSORED< which has a blade for keeping the two plys separated. More expensive 3ply toilet paper is not really suitable as it is too difficult to separate the plys. The stuff you find in council toilets should be also avoided as I can’t be certain it isn’t tougher then the ice hardened drop forged case hardened blades.

Custom bog roll holder

Another design from the twisted mind of Barras3D. The >censored< splitter which keeps the two plys separated.

For salon use i would simply chuck one of the plys but the important part is to get it so the tissue paper hangs vertically. Over the bar on your grooming table would be ideal or over the edge of a table if you are a hair dresser.

Wet it

Using a water sprayer give to paper a light spray so it is damp.

Remember not to have it on jet after cleaning your water stones as you will blow a hole straight through it.

Test cut

Using a neutral grip hold the scissors still and cut a vertical cut in the wet tissue paper. It should cut cleanly with no folding or rags.

Pull out

Now slowly pull the scissors down and if they are perfect then they won’t drag any paper down with them.

This pair if you look carefully have caught a tiny bit at the tips but in use you would never notice this.

The wet tissue paper test can be a slightly subjective thing but it is the standard that most sharpeners have been trained to use. I have seen some other ways of testing scissors which i found slightly eye opening and not in a good way. It isn’t something i would be doing all the time but it can be a nice sanity check when you don’t have an Elmo or a dog to hand. Obviously it can’t be used with thinners or chunkers as there is bits of the blade missing.

There is a way to test them with tissue paper but I prefer to test them on Elmo fur

Thinners

With some DRY single ply tissue paper cut it with your thinners and then open then again and you should see a row cuts. it isn’t the best way to test thinners but it can tell you a few things.