Sharpening Scissors
I'll admit that there are some tools I use in tying that I tend to neglect but one that I do take care of are my scissors. Like most of us probably do, I have three pair I use the most. One for trimming rough material such as hair and hide, one for fine work that has micro tips, and one that has carbide edges. I also have another "junk" pair that I use for trimming lead wire and such. Thing is though good scissors are expensive and they do get dull over time. So when that happens - we can either send them out for resharpening, retire them for "junk" work, or try and sharpen them ourselves.
What ever you choose to do - resharpening them yourself is not hard to do - unless they are too far gone. It's something I like to do once a month or so - just to keep up with them. If they have a nick in the cutting edge or the edge is too far rounded, then the edge pretty much cannot be saved, but if you do alot of tying and keep up with the edge, then they will last a long time. And it just takes a couple of minutes to do - not rocket science but some care must be taken when doing it.
First off there are scissors that have one edge that is serrated and one that is ground smooth. The serrated edge cannot be sharpened by hand but the ground edge can. Other scissors that have both edges machined smooth can be touched up on both "blades"
Serrated edge: 
Machined smooth edge 
To test to see if a pair needs sharpened, I like to use white GSP thread, hang it loosely from the spool and take a cut across the thread. You can use any other type of thread to test them but the GSP is "slippery" and gives me a better test. If the scissors are in need of sharpening, most likely the thread will slip between the blades as shown. Understand that if the "camber" or the action that causes the blades to sweep against each other to make the cut is too far gone than this too will cause the thread to slip between the blades. But it's a starting point.
So to put the edge back on them, take a smooth sharpening stone, put a drop of oil on the stone and open up the scissors. New stones that have never been used have square edges and what I like to do is round them off slightly- especially on the long side before I use them. That way the transition into the sharpening/grinding if you will is gradual and not abrupt.
Also what I found, contrary to what some do, I only dress up the bevel and never lay the blade flat on the stone. This flat surface is machined and I don't think should be messed with.
Per Steve Fournier (owner of Dr. Slick), you should try and maintain an angle of 30 - 35 degrees when laying the blade on the stone to dress up the cutting edge. What I like to do is :
Put a drop of oil on the stone, lay the blade on the stone, and tilt the blade both sideways and back to back, until I do not see any "shadow" between the blade and the stone.
Here there is a slight shadow under the entire length of the blade. I need to tilt the blade more to the side:
Here there is a shadow front to back on the blade - I got to tilt it more to the rear:
Here, I'm ready to dress up the blade:
I like to move the blade in a circular motion and change direction every now and then. I keep doing this until the oil is just about absorbed in to the stone and then to finish off - I take 4 or 5 swipes straight back and forth to give the edge a final finish.
Finally - I like to use reel or gun oil for this. Motor oil works also. WD-40 is too thin and will absorb into the stone quickly. Also, although I have been told that cutting a folded piece of aluminum foil can get rid of the fine burrs that occur on the edge - I never found this to work too well. But others may have luck with it.
Hope this helps and I found that by doing this every now and then - my scissors can last a long time.
That is unless my son uses them to cut speaker wire - which he did once!!!
