The scissors seem like any other pair of steel scissors. I wonder why this hasn't been outsourced to China. These guys could have worked on something more productive than scissors.
This type of reductionism is seldom helpful. Painting is just smearing oil on a canvas? Programming is just "typing a bunch of stuff"? I don't think so. Craft matters.
Part of my brain knows that people who use physical tools for a living use old and slightly busted ones all the time, but another part fantasizes about pulling a Peter Gibbons and going to work with people who actually appreciate the value of the right tool.
Take a Stanley number 5 Jack Plane. An old one weighs less, is flatter, has nicer handles, the iron sits better and the adjustments are better... than a new Stanley. However they are both worse than a Veritas one made on modern equipment, but... at four times the price.
What happened here is that a Stanley in 1940 cost a serious amount of money. A Stanley in 2018 its quite cheap because Stanley decided to stay mass market by reducing quality. However the space they left has been back-filled by newer higher quality makers using modern materials and techniques.
I think a lot of folks nowadays have never used a really good high-quality tool and have no idea what they're missing.
Do you think the tolerances in a Samsung phone manufactured in China are laxer than that? High quality scissors can be manufactured in China. For people in UK to waste their time on it is unnecessary. And that's probably the reason why such endevours usually fail.
The domestic companies are usually the ones left behind after a century of intense competition during a time when quality and longevity were paramount and customers couldn't afford to constantly replace equipment. Chinese industry has arisen in a global market built around a different dynamic--cheap industrial labor selling products to rich consumers who are less discerning, or in any event don't mind buying throwaway tools.
That says little about the inherent skill of Chinese labor and industry and everything about how free markets operate and industrial processes evolve.
China can't match the quality of the very best German and Japanese manufacturers, but they're pretty damned close in a lot of areas. Quality usually starts to slip because the OEM customer demands it - cutting corners to keep the price down is usually the more profitable option.
What does that mean? Why is it a waste of time for a British person and not for a Chinese person?
Given that, wasting an hour to do something yourself instead of paying someone else to do it for you can be counterproductive (see Ricardo's law).
Incidentally, Japan also make incredibly high quality scissors. I am yet to find good cutting tools from China, whether it's chef knives, pocket knives, scissors, or even sidecutters and other hand tools for electrical work.
My point I'm trying to make, is that China is good at making certain things, but not others.
We can also add that there is a certain amount of elitism to say that it's not worth Westerners' time to manufacture something as lowly as scissors.
You're info is outdated now.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/18...
If you are a programmer, how would you feel if I questioned your skills, saying that it should be outsourced to India and you are better off doing something else in your life?
Your comment comes off as highly insensitive
I'm already a programmer in India btw.
From occasional hobbies I find the sense of achievement from a manual or engineering task done well is actually far higher than from software. See Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
As mass production techniques have improved over the last century, manufacturers have usually tried to pare back costs and avoid over-engineering, relying on tighter tolerances to create an acceptable product. Rather than aiming for high quality, instead they minimize defects and maximize profits. Products tend towards acceptable - good enough to buy - but not delightful.
This has gradually created a space for the fourth mode of making, in the bespoke small batch hipster space. It also benefits from a narrative that soulless mass manufacturing can't easily replicate.
When something is made well with artistry and craft, some of the person who made it goes into the product and reaches the end user. A maker with the right attitude will find that fulfilling. It's a tangible connection with other people, and feels honest and validating.
Reminds me of:
Etc...
This isn't even getting into food brands like milk powder.
As for scissors and pens and whatever, just jump into your nearest MUJI and see how many customers are in that store compared to its Chinese counterpart.
There's a lot to be said about the craftsman.
At the end of the day we're all of the same breed, but we find code, cloth, or metal to be our medium.
So much so in fact, that your cutting technique will naturally change since using it the way you use dull knives is both more dangerous and less efficient.
A lot of that heritage has been lost but there's still a place in the market for fine hand made things.
You probably own some Sheffield cutlery somewhere.