Can Aluminum Really Sharpen Your Dull Scissors?
Aluminum foil has more uses than just wrapping up leftovers or lining baking pans for easy cleanup. When balled up, it can even help scrub off stubborn food stuck to your dishes. And, according to the internet, particularly TikTok, it can also sharpen dull scissors. But can it really?
The short answer is no. Aluminum foil doesn't technically sharpen scissors, at least not in the way a sharpening stone or sandpaper would. Sharpening means creating a new, clean edge on the blade, and cutting through foil doesn't exactly do that. What it can do, though, is help improve performance by cleaning the blades. When you cut through several layers of aluminum foil stacked on top of each other, it helps remove gunk, rust, burrs, and other buildup that may be interfering with a smooth cut. That's why your scissors feel sharper afterward, because they're cleaner and glide more easily.
If you want to put this method into practice, fold a sheet of aluminum foil into seven or eight layers. Start cutting at one edge and work your way down, making full cuts so you're really pushing the entire blades of the scissors through the foil. To reduce waste, you can reuse foil, but make sure it's clean and grease-free. Otherwise, you'll just add buildup to your blades instead of cleaning them. For best results, try angling the scissors between 12 and 35 degrees, so instead of holding them straight up and down, tilt them slightly as you cut through it. Afterward, cut through a sheet of wax paper using long, steady strokes. This helps lubricate the blades, ease friction, and even extend their lifespan.
Why it works and other scissor sharpening techniques
Cutting through several layers of aluminum foil can make scissors feel sharper and improve their quality of cut, even though it doesn't technically sharpen the blades. It works thanks to the toughness of aluminum foil. Since it's a thin, flexible metal, it has just enough grit to smooth out the blade edges without grinding them down. It can even help rub away rust from metal, which, we all know, can be especially tough to get rid of.
While slicing through some aluminum foil can help improve how well your scissors cut, there are other easy methods that actually sharpen dull blades, no rotary tool required. One option is cutting through a sheet of fine sandpaper a few times, which actually helps to sharpen the blades. You can also try cutting through steel wool, the fine, metal scrubbing pad that's available at most grocery stores.
A different hands-on approach involves using a safety pin; just open the scissors up enough to fit the pin between the blades, then pull it from the scissors' tip toward the handle to manually sharpen the edges. A glass bottle is another clever hack for sharpening dull scissors — simply run the blades along the neck of the bottle to help improve their edge. These methods are much easier (and safer) than using a belt grinder or sharpening stone and can have your scissors slicing smoothly in no time.