A blade is the sharp, cutting portion of a tool , weapon , or machine , specifically designed to puncture, chop, slice, or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are intended to cut. This includes early examples made from flaked stones like flint or obsidian , evolving through the ages into metal forms like copper , bronze , and iron , and culminating in modern versions made from steel or ceramics . Serving as one of humanity's oldest tools, blades continue to have wide-ranging applications, including in combat, cooking , and various other everyday and specialized tasks.
134-504: Scissors are hand-operated shearing tools. A pair of scissors consists of a pair of blades pivoted so that the sharpened edges slide against each other when the handles (bows) opposite to the pivot are closed. Scissors are used for cutting various thin materials, such as paper , cardboard , metal foil , cloth , rope , and wire . A large variety of scissors and shears all exist for specialized purposes. Hair-cutting shears and kitchen shears are functionally equivalent to scissors, but
268-664: A 113-meter-tall hotel and a 24-story residential tower have been approved. 121- and 93-meter-tall office buildings are planned to be built in Ruoholahti . Well over 200 high-rise buildings will be built in Helsinki in the 2020s. Well-known statues and monuments strongly embedded in the cityscape of Helsinki include the Keisarinnankivi ("Stone of the Empress", 1835), the statue of Russian Emperor Alexander II (1894),
402-658: A 1930s law that decreed "Made in Solingen" stamps could only be applied to products almost entirely manufactured in the old industrial area of Solingen. In 2019 this applied to approximately 150 companies making high-quality blades of all kinds, including scissors. Friedrich Herder, founded in Solingen in 1727, is one of the oldest scissors manufacturers still operating in Germany. Premana, in Lecco Province, has its origins in ironworks and knife manufacturing beginning in
536-417: A body that is tough. Prehistorically, and in less technologically advanced cultures even into modern times, tool and weapon blades have been made from wood, bone, and stone. Most woods are exceptionally poor at holding edges and bone and stone suffer from brittleness making them suffer from fracture when striking or struck. In modern times stone, in the form of obsidian, is used in some medical scalpels as it
670-469: A convex section to avoid getting stuck in the wood where chopping axes can be flat or even concave. A khopesh , falchion , or kukri is angled and/or weighted at the distal end so that force is concentrated at the faster moving, heavier part of the blade maximizing cutting power and making it largely unsuitable for thrusting, whereas a rapier is thin and tapered allowing it to pierce and be moved with more agility while reducing its chopping power compared to
804-497: A documentary that featured a pair of his bonsai snips which retailed for US$ 35,000. In Solsona, Spain, scissor manufacturing began in the 16th century. At the industry's peak in the 18th century there were 24 workshops, organized as the Guild of Saint Eligius, the patron saint of knife makers. By the mid-1980s there were only two, and by 2021, Pallarès Solsona, founded in 1917 by Lluìs and Carles Pallarès Canal, and still family-operated,
938-406: A first-class double- lever with the pivot acting as the fulcrum . For cutting thick or heavy material, the mechanical advantage of a lever can be exploited by placing the material to be cut as close to the fulcrum as possible. For example, if the applied force (at the handles) is twice as far away from the fulcrum as the cutting location (i.e., the point of contact between the blades), the force at
1072-502: A landscape of small villages. Some of the old villages from the 1240s in the area of present-day Helsinki, such as Koskela and Töölö , are now Helsinki districts, as are the rest of the 27 medieval villages. The area gradually became part of the Kingdom of Sweden and Christianity. Kuninkaantie , or the "King's Road", ran through the area and two interesting medieval buildings were built here: Vartiokylä hillfort [ fi ] in
1206-418: A low elastic modulus (is soft) but high yield strain (loosely, can be stretched or squashed by a large proportion without breaking), drawing serrations across the loaf with little downward force will allow each serration to simultaneously cut the bread with much less deformation of the loaf. Similarly, pushing on a rope tends to squash the rope while drawing serrations across it sheers the rope fibers. Drawing
1340-404: A material into dust along a narrow channel, the kerf , whereas knives and similar act by forcing the material apart. This means that saws result in a loss of material and the serrations of a saw also serve to carry metal swarf and sawdust out of the cut channel.) Fullers are longitudinal channels either forged into the blade or later machined/milled out of the blade though the latter process
1474-423: A material that is about as hard , though usually harder, than the material to be cut. Insufficiently hard blades will be unable to cut a material or will wear away quickly as hardness is related to a material's ability to resist abrasion . However, blades must also be tough enough to resist the dynamic load of impact and as a general rule the harder a blade the less tough (the more brittle) a material. For example,
SECTION 10
#17327720859011608-597: A more solid naval defence in front of the city. Little came of these plans, however, as Helsinki remained a small town plagued by poverty, war and disease. The plague of 1710 killed most of Helsinki's population. After the Russians captured Helsinki in May 1713 during the Great Northern War , the retreating Swedish administration set fire to parts of the city. Despite this, the city's population grew to 3,000 by
1742-691: A new owner started the first cutlery works in Finland, making, among other items, scissors with the Fiskars trademark. The vast majority of global scissor manufacturing takes place in China. As of 2019, China was responsible for 64.3% of worldwide scissors exports. When combined with Chinese Taipei exports, this rises to 68.3%. The primary scissors producing region in China is in Guandong Province. The Hangzhou Zhang Xiaoquan Company, founded in 1663,
1876-519: A proper cut without an edge, and so in competitive fencing such attacks reward no points. Some variations include: Blades are sometimes marked or inscribed, for decorative purposes, or with the mark of either the maker or the owner. Blade decorations are often realized in inlay in some precious metal (gold or silver). Early blade inscriptions are known from the Bronze Age , a Hittite sword found at Hattusa bears an inscription chiseled into
2010-414: A significant place both historically and in contemporary society, reflecting an evolution in material technology and utility. During food preparation, knives are mainly used for slicing, chopping, and piercing. In combat, a blade may be used to slash or puncture, and may also be thrown or otherwise propelled . The function is to sever a nerve, muscle or tendon fibers, or blood vessel to disable or kill
2144-399: A similarly sized sword. A serrated edge, such as on a saw or a bread knife , concentrates force onto the tips of the serrations which increases pressure as well as allowing soft or fibrous material (like wood, rope, bread, and vegetables) to expand into the spaces between serrations. Whereas pushing any knife, even a bread knife, down onto a bread loaf will just squash the loaf as bread has
2278-547: A smooth blade is less effective as the blade is parallel to the direction draw but the serrations of a serrated blade are at an angle to the fibers. Serrations on knives are often symmetric allowing the blade to cut on both the forward and reverse strokes of a cut, a notable exception being Veff serrations which are designed to maximize cutting power while moving the blade away from the user. Saw blade serrations, for both wood and metal, are typically asymmetrical so that they cut while moving in only one direction. (Saws act by abrading
2412-413: A steel axehead is much harder than the wood it is intended to cut and is sufficiently tough to resist the impact resulting when swung against a tree while a ceramic kitchen knife, harder than steel, is very brittle (has low toughness) and can easily shatter if dropped onto the floor or twisted while inside the food it is cutting or carelessly stored under other kitchen utensils. This creates a tension between
2546-408: A thinner one of similar design while also making it experience more drag while slicing or piercing. A filleting knife will be thin enough to be very flexible while a carving knife will be thicker and stiffer; a dagger will be thin so it can pierce, while a camping knife will be thicker so it can be stronger and more durable. A strongly curved edge, like a talwar , will allow the user to draw the edge of
2680-528: A total area of 95,480 acres (38,640 ha). Of the total area, 48,190 acres (19,500 ha) are water areas and 47,290 acres (19,140 ha) are land areas. The city also has seven nature reserves in Espoo , Sipoo , Hanko and Ingå . The largest nature reserve is the Vanhankaupunginselkä , with an area of 30,600 acres (12,400 ha). The city's first nature reserve, Tiiraluoto of Lauttasaari,
2814-580: A train") and frowned upon by locals. Helsset is the Northern Sami name for Helsinki. After the end of the Ice Age and the retreat of the ice sheet, the first settlers arrived in the Helsinki area around 5000 BC. Their presence has been documented by archaeologists in Vantaa , Pitäjänmäki and Kaarela . Permanent settlements did not appear until the beginning of the 1st millennium AD, during
SECTION 20
#17327720859012948-568: A wide range of physical and chemical properties desirable for blades. For example, surgical scalpels are often made of stainless steel so that they remain free of rust and largely chemically inert; tool steels are hard and impact resistant (and often expensive as retaining toughness and hardness requires expensive alloying materials, and, being hard, they are difficult to make into their finished shape) and some are designed to resist changes to their physical properties at high temperatures. Steels can be further heat treated to optimize their toughness, which
3082-602: A widespread place in cultural superstitions. In many cases, the details of the superstition may be specific to a given country, region, tribe, religion or even situation. Scissors have been used in the sciences for various purposes, including descriptions of animals or natural features. Animals named after scissors include: Blade Blades function by concentrating force at the cutting edge. Design variations, such as serrated edges found on bread knives and saws , serve to enhance this force concentration, adapting blades for specific functions and materials. Blades thus hold
3216-418: Is applied it them, forming a section like the bottom part of a letter "J". For this reason, straight edge razors are frequently stropped to straighten the edge. Drawing a blade across any material tends to abrade both the blade, usually making it duller, and the cut material. Though softer than glass or many types of stone used in the kitchen, steel edges can still scratch these surfaces. The resulting scratch
3350-414: Is applied to the blade, either from the handle or pressing on the back of the blade. The handle or back of the blade has a large area compared to the fine edge. This concentration of applied force onto the small edge area increases the pressure exerted by the edge. It is this high pressure that allows a blade to cut through a material by breaking the bonds between the molecules, crystals, fibers, etc. in
3484-516: Is around 19 to 22 °C (66 to 72 °F). Due to the sea effect, especially on hot summer days, daytime temperatures are slightly cooler and nighttime temperatures higher than further inland. The highest temperature recorded in the city was 33.2 °C (91.8 °F) on 28 July 2019 at the Kaisaniemi weather station, breaking the previous record of 33.1 °C (91.6 °F) set in July 1945 at
3618-461: Is capable of being formed into an exceedingly fine edge. Ceramic knives are non-metallic and non-magnetic. As non-metals do not corrode they remain rust and corrosion free but they suffer from similar faults as stone and bone, being rather brittle and almost entirely inflexible. They are harder than metal knives and so more difficult to sharpen, and some ceramic knives may be as hard or harder than some sharpening stones. For example, synthetic sapphire
3752-652: Is chosen in the nationally held municipal elections , which are held every four years. Helsinki's city council consists of eighty-five members. Following the most recent municipal elections in 2017, the three largest parties are the National Coalition Party (25), the Green League (21), and the Social Democratic Party (12). The Mayor of Helsinki is Juhana Vartiainen . The city of Helsinki has 683,669 inhabitants, making it
3886-532: Is classified as a major port city, and in 2017 it was rated the world's busiest passenger port. According to a theory put forward in the 1630s, at the time of Swedish colonisation of the Finnish coast, colonists from Hälsingland in central Sweden arrived at what is now the Vantaa River and called it Helsingå ('Helsinge River'), giving rise to the names of the village and church of Helsinge in
4020-420: Is comparatively high in certain parts of downtown Helsinki, reaching 16,494 inhabitants per square kilometre (42,720/sq mi) in the district of Kallio , overall Helsinki's population density is 3,147 per square kilometre. Outside the city centre, much of Helsinki consists of post-war suburbs separated by patches of forest. A narrow, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) long Helsinki Central Park , which stretches from
4154-488: Is derived. Official Finnish government documents and Finnish language newspapers have used the name Helsinki since 1819, when the Senate of Finland moved to the city from Turku , the former capital of Finland. Decrees issued in Helsinki were dated with Helsinki as the place of issue. This is how the form Helsinki came to be used in written Finnish. When Finland became a Grand Duchy of Finland, an autonomous state under
Scissors - Misplaced Pages Continue
4288-541: Is divided into three major areas: Helsinki Downtown ( Finnish : Helsingin kantakaupunki , Swedish : Helsingfors innerstad ), North Helsinki ( Finnish : Pohjois-Helsinki , Swedish : Norra Helsingfors ) and East Helsinki ( Finnish : Itä-Helsinki , Swedish : Östra Helsingfors ). Of these, Helsinki Downtown means the undefined core area of capital, as opposed to suburbs . The designations business center and city center usually refer to Kluuvi , Kamppi and Punavuori . Other subdivisional centers outside
4422-448: Is full of very fine particles of ground glass or stone which will very quickly abrade the blade's edge and so dull it. In times when swords were regularly used in warfare, they required frequent sharpening because of dulling from contact with rigid armor, mail, metal rimmed shields, or other swords, for example. Particularly, hitting the edge of another sword by accident or in an emergency could chip away metal and even cause cracks through
4556-717: Is harder than natural sharpening stones and is as hard as alumina sharpening stones. Zirconium dioxide is also harder than garnet sharpening stones and is nearly as hard as alumina. Both require diamond stones or silicon carbide stones to sharpen and care has to be taken to avoid chipping the blade. As such ceramic knives are seldom used outside of a kitchen and they are still quite uncommon. Plastic knives are difficult to make sharp and poorly retain an edge. They are largely used as low cost, disposable utensils or as children's utensils or in environments such as air travel where metal blades are prohibited. They are often serrated to compensate for their general lack of sharpness but, as evidenced by
4690-477: Is important for impact blades, or their hardness, which allows them to retain an edge well with use (although harder metals require more effort to sharpen). It is possible to combine different materials, or different heat treatments, to produce desirable qualities in a blade. For example, the finest Japanese swords were routinely made of up to seven sections of metals and even poorer quality swords were often made of two. These would include soft irons that could absorb
4824-454: Is less desirable. This loss of material necessarily weakens the blade but serves to make the blade lighter without sacrificing stiffness. The same principle is applied in the manufacture of beams such as I-beams . Fullers are only of significant utility in swords. In most knives there is so little material removed by the fuller that it makes little difference to the weight of the blade and they are largely cosmetic. Typically blades are made from
4958-984: Is one of the oldest continuously operating scissor manufacturers in the world. The company was nationalized in 1958 and now employs 1500 people who annually mass-produce an estimated seven million pairs of inexpensive scissors that retail for an average of US$ 4 each. In the late 14th century, the English word "scissors" came into usage. It was derived from the Old French word cisoires , which referred to shears. There are several historically important scissor-producing regions in France: Haute-Marne in Nogent-en Bassigny, Châtellereault, Thiers and Rouen. These towns, like many other scissor-producing communities, began with sabre, sword and bayonet production, which transitioned to scissors and other blades in
5092-418: Is particularly true of acute blades and those made of soft materials. Dulling usually occurs due to contact between the blade and a hard substance such as ceramic, stone, bone, glass, or metal. The more acute the blade, the more easily it will dull. As the blade near the edge is thinner, there is little material to remove before the edge is worn away to a thicker section. Thin edges can also roll over when force
5226-440: Is poorly suited for working stone. Bronze is superior in this regard, and was taken up by later civilizations. Both bronze and copper can be work hardened by hitting the metal with a hammer. With technological advancement in smelting, iron came to be used in the manufacturing of blades. Steel , a range of alloys made from iron, has become the metal of choice for the modern age. Various alloys of steel can be made which offer
5360-779: Is the Sederholm House [ fr ] (1757) at the intersection of Senate Square and the Katariinankatu street. Suomenlinna also has buildings completed in the 18th century, including the Kuninkaanportti on the Kustaanmiekka Island [ fr ] (1753–1754). The oldest church in Helsinki is the Östersundom church, built in 1754. Helsinki is also home to numerous Art Nouveau -influenced ( Jugend in Finnish) buildings belonging to
5494-657: Is the third-largest municipality in the Nordic countries, after Stockholm and Oslo . Its urban area is the third-largest in the Nordic countries, after Stockholm and Copenhagen. Helsinki Airport , in the neighbouring city of Vantaa, serves the city with frequent flights to numerous destinations in Europe, North America, and Asia. Helsinki is a bilingual municipality with Finnish and Swedish as its official languages. The population consists of 75% Finnish speakers, 5% Swedish speakers, and 20% speakers of other languages (which
Scissors - Misplaced Pages Continue
5628-548: Is the largest such area in Finland, with a land area of 669.31 square kilometres (258.42 sq mi) and approximately 1.36 million inhabitants. Helsinki has a cold hemiboreal humid continental climate ( Köppen : Dfb , Trewartha Dcbo ). Due to the moderating influence of the Baltic Sea and the North Atlantic Current (see also Extratropical cyclone ), winter temperatures are higher than
5762-473: Is the most densely populated area of Finland . The Capital Region spreads over a land area of 770 square kilometres (300 sq mi) and has a population density of 1,619 per sg km. With over 20 percent of the country's population in just 0.2 percent of its surface area, the area's housing density is high by Finnish standards. The Helsinki metropolitan area or the Greater Helsinki consists of
5896-510: Is treated as a plural noun , and therefore takes a plural verb (e.g., these scissors are ). Alternatively, the tool is referred to by the singular phrase a pair of scissors . The word shears is used to describe similar instruments that are larger in size and for heavier cutting. The earliest known scissors appeared in Mesopotamia 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. These were of the 'spring scissor' type comprising two bronze blades connected at
6030-517: Is well above the national average). Helsinki hosted the 1952 Summer Olympics , the first CSCE / OSCE Summit in 1975, the first World Athletics Championships in 1983, the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest in 2007 and it was the 2012 World Design Capital . Helsinki has one of the highest standards of urban living in the world. In 2011, the British magazine Monocle ranked Helsinki as the world's most liveable city in its livable cities index . In
6164-592: The Battle at Herdaler was a battle between the Norse Viking leader Olav Haraldsson (later King Olaf II of Norway , also known as Saint Olaf) and local Finns at Herdaler (now Ingå ), not far from Helsinga, around 1007–8. The Saga of Olaf Haraldson tells how Olav raided the coasts of Finland and was almost killed in battle. He ran away in fear and after that the Vikings did not raid the coasts of Finland. Later
6298-631: The Economist Intelligence Unit's 2016 livability survey, Helsinki ranked ninth out of 140 cities. In July 2021, the American magazine Time named Helsinki one of the world's greatest places, a city that "can grow into a burgeoning cultural nest in the future" and is already known as an environmental pioneer. In an international Cities of Choice survey conducted in 2021 by the Boston Consulting Group and
6432-704: The Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About 684,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.26 million in the capital region and 1.6 million in the metropolitan area . As the most populous urban area in Finland, it is the country's most significant centre for politics, education, finance, culture, and research. Helsinki is 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia , 400 kilometres (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden , and 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia . Helsinki has significant historical connections with these three cities. Together with
6566-824: The House of Nobility in Kruununhaka and the Catholic St. Henry's Cathedral . In addition to other cities in Northern Europe that were not under the Soviet Union , such as Stockholm , Sweden, Helsinki's neoclassical buildings gained also popularity as a backdrop for scenes intended to depict the Soviet Union in numerous Hollywood movies during the Cold War era, when filming within the actual USSR
6700-705: The Ilmala weather station. The lowest temperature recorded in the city was −34.3 °C (−29.7 °F) on 10 January 1987, although an unofficial low of −35 °C (−31 °F) was recorded in December 1876. Helsinki Airport (in Vantaa, 17 km north of Helsinki city centre) recorded a maximum temperature of 33.7 °C (92.7 °F) on 29 July 2010 and a minimum of −35.9 °C (−33 °F) on 9 January 1987. Precipitation comes from frontal passages and thunderstorms. Thunderstorms are most common in summer. Helsinki
6834-517: The Iron Age , when the area was inhabited by the Tavastians . They used the area for fishing and hunting, but due to the lack of archaeological finds it is difficult to say how extensive their settlements were. Pollen analysis has shown that there were agricultural settlements in the area in the 10th century, and surviving historical records from the 14th century describe Tavastian settlements in
SECTION 50
#17327720859016968-767: The Romans around 100 AD. They entered common use in not only ancient Rome, but also China , Japan , and Korea , and the idea is still used in almost all modern scissors. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance , spring scissors were made by heating a bar of iron or steel, then flattening and shaping its ends into blades on an anvil. The center of the bar was heated, bent to form the spring, then cooled and reheated to make it flexible. The Hangzhou Zhang Xiaoquan Company in Hangzhou, China, has been manufacturing scissors since 1663. William Whiteley & Sons (Sheffield) Ltd.
7102-505: The Senate Square and Helsinki Cathedral are located. During the second half of the 17th century, Helsinki, as a wooden city, suffered from regular fires , and by the beginning of the 18th century the population had fallen below 1,700. For a long time Helsinki was mainly a small administrative town for the governors of Nyland and Tavastehus County , but its importance began to grow in the 18th century when plans were made to build
7236-535: The bourgeoisie of Porvoo , Raseborg , Rauma and Ulvila to move there. The shallowness of the bay made it impossible to build a harbour, and the king allowed the settlers to leave the unfortunate location. In 1640, Count Per Brahe the Younger , together with some descendants of the original settlers, moved the centre of the city to the Vironniemi peninsula by the sea, today's Kruununhaka district, where
7370-469: The 1300s. This theory is questionable, as dialect research suggests that the settlers came from Uppland and the surrounding areas. Others have suggested that the name derives from the Swedish word helsing , an archaic form of the word hals (' neck '), which refers to the narrowest part of a river, the rapids . Other Scandinavian towns in similar geographical locations were given similar names at
7504-645: The 1380s and the Church of St. Lawrence in 1455. In the Middle Ages, several thousand people lived in Helsinki's keep . There was a lot of trade across the Baltic Sea . The shipping route to the coast, and especially to Reval , meant that by the end of the Middle Ages the Helsinki region had become an important trading centre for wealthy peasants , priests and nobles in Finland, after Vyborg and Pohja . Furs , wood , tar , fish and animals were exported from Helsinki, and salt and grain were brought to
7638-413: The 16th century. In 1900 there were ten scissor manufacturing workshops, 20 in 1952 and 48 by 1960. Today, Consorzio Premax, an industrial partnership, organizes over 60 local companies involved in the manufacture of scissors for global markets. In 2019 Italy exported 3.5% of scissors manufactured globally. One of the oldest Premanese scissor manufacturing firms still in operation is Sanelli Ambrogio, which
7772-544: The 1810s, when it replaced Turku as the capital of the Grand Duchy of Finland , which later became the sovereign Republic of Finland . The city continued its growth from that time on, with an exception during the Finnish Civil War . From the end of World War II up until the 1970s there was a massive exodus of people from the countryside to the cities of Finland, in particular Helsinki. Between 1944 and 1969
7906-512: The 1930s included the 18-story "Kino" palace, a 17-story apartment building, and a 30-story Stockmann building were proposed but only the 70-meter-tall 14-story Hotel Torni was built. (Hotel Torni was the tallest high-rise in Finland until 1976, when the 83-meter-tall Neste headquarters were completed in Espoo; Helsinki had rejected the tower. ) Twin 30-story buildings were proposed in Pasila in
8040-604: The 1940 Helsinki Olympic Games; the games were initially cancelled due to the Second World War , but the venues fulfilled their purpose in the 1952 Olympic Games . Many of them are listed by DoCoMoMo as significant examples of modern architecture. The Olympic Stadium and Helsinki-Malmi Airport are also catalogued by the Finnish Heritage Agency as cultural-historical environments of national significance. When Finland became heavily urbanized in
8174-487: The 1960s and 1970s, the district of Pihlajamäki , for example, was built in Helsinki for new residents, where for the first time in Finland, precast concrete was used on a large scale. Pikku Huopalahti , built in the 1980s and 1990s, has tried to get rid of a one-size-fits-all grid pattern, which means that its look is very organic and its streets are not repeated in the same way. Itäkeskus in Eastern Helsinki
SECTION 60
#17327720859018308-446: The 1967 British-American espionage thriller Billion Dollar Brain , starring Michael Caine . The city has large amounts of underground areas such as shelters and tunnels, many used daily as swimming pool, church, water management, entertainment etc. Helsinki also features several buildings by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto , recognized as one of the pioneers of architectural functionalism . However, some of his works, such as
8442-530: The 1970s but were rejected. In 1990 a planned 104-meter-tall tower for the Kone company was also cancelled. Highrise construction only started in the beginning of the 21st century, when the city decided to allow the construction of skyscrapers. Highrises were first built in Kalasatama , a primarily-residential district built on a former container port . As of 2024, four residential towers have been completed:
8576-608: The 1970s, which occurred late compared to the rest of Europe, tripled the population of the metropolitan area, and the Helsinki Metro subway system was built. Known as the "Daughter of the Baltic" or the "Pearl of the Baltic", Helsinki is located at the tip of a peninsula and on 315 islands. The city centre is located on a southern peninsula, Helsinginniemi ("Cape of Helsinki"), which is rarely referred to by its actual name, Vironniemi ("Cape of Estonia"). Population density
8710-495: The 19th century, scissors were hand-forged with elaborately decorated handles. They were made by hammering steel on indented surfaces known as 'bosses' to form the blades. The rings in the handles, known as bows, were made by punching a hole in the steel and enlarging it with the pointed end of an anvil. In 1649, in Swedish -ruled Finland , an ironworks was founded in the village of Fiskars between Helsinki and Turku . In 1830,
8844-452: The 35-story, 282-apartment, 134-metre-tall (440 ft) Majakka in 2019 (which is the tallest building in Finland ); the 32-story, 124-meter Loisto in 2021; the 31-story, 120-meter Lumo One in 2022; and the 24-story, 98-meter Visio in 2023. The 26-story, 111-meter-tall office building Horisontti is to be completed in 2025, and three further towers are to be built in the complex. Tall residential towers have also been built in
8978-642: The BCG Henderson Institute, Helsinki was ranked the third-best city in the world to live in, with London and New York City coming in first and second. In the Condé Nast Traveler magazine's 2023 Readers' Choice Awards, Helsinki was ranked the 4th-friendliest city in Europe. Helsinki, along with Rovaniemi in Lapland , is also one of Finland's most important tourist cities. Due to the large number of sea passengers, Helsinki
9112-505: The British Heritage Crafts Association. A pair of scissors consists of two pivoted blades. In lower-quality scissors, the cutting edges are not particularly sharp; it is primarily the shearing action between the two blades that cuts the material. In high-quality scissors, the blades can be both extremely sharp, and tension sprung – to increase the cutting and shearing tension only at the exact point where
9246-543: The Kansallisromantiikka ( romantic nationalism ) trend, designed in the early 20th century and strongly influenced by Kalevala , which was a common theme of the era. Helsinki's Art Nouveau style is also featured in central residential districts, such as Katajanokka and Ullanlinna . An important architect of the Finnish Art Nouveau style was Eliel Saarinen , whose architectural masterpiece
9380-583: The Sveaborg fortress during the war, and about a quarter of the city was destroyed in a fire in 1808. Emperor Alexander I of Russia moved the capital of Finland from Turku to Helsinki on 8 April 1812 to reduce Swedish influence in Finland and bring the capital closer to St Petersburg . After the Great Fire of Turku in 1827, the Royal Academy of Turku , the only university in the country at
9514-569: The Thumb-Sucker") in which a child continues to suck his thumbs despite his mother's warnings about The Great Tall Scissorman. Augusten Burroughs ' 2002 memoir Running with Scissors spent eight weeks on the New York Times best seller list . The book was later adapted into a film. Proverbs about scissors are found in many language communities. The term 'scissor kick' may be found in several sports, including: Scissors have
9648-579: The United States in 1854. The Sasuke workshop in Sakai City south of Osaka is run by Yasuhiro Hirakawa, a 5th generation scissorsmith. The company has been in operation since 1867. Yasuhiro Hirakawa is the last traditional scissormaker in Japan, making scissors in the traditional style where the blades are believed to be thinner, lighter and sharper than European scissors. In 2018 he was profiled in
9782-648: The adversary. Severing a major blood vessel typically leads to death due to exsanguination . Blades may be used to scrape, moving the blade sideways across a surface, as in an ink eraser , rather than along or through a surface. For construction equipment such as a grader , the ground-working implement is also referred to as the blade, typically with a replaceable cutting edge. A simple blade intended for cutting has two faces that meet at an edge. Ideally, this edge would have no roundness but in practice, all edges can be seen to be rounded to some degree under magnification either optically or with an electron microscope. Force
9916-459: The area was settled by Christians from Sweden. They came mainly from the Swedish coastal regions of Norrland and Hälsingland , and their migration intensified around 1100. The Swedes permanently colonised the Helsinki region's coastline in the late 13th century, after the successful 'crusade' to Finland that led to the defeat of the Tavastians. In the Middle Ages, the Helsinki area was
10050-570: The area. Christianity does not gain a significant foothold in Finland before the 11th century. After that, a number of crosses and other objects related to Christianity can be found in archaeological material. According to the traditional view, the Kingdom of Sweden made three crusades to Finland, thanks to which the region was incorporated into both Christianity and the Swedish Empire. Recent research has shown that these expeditions, to
10184-475: The beginning of the 19th century. The construction of the naval fortress of Sveaborg ( Viapori in Finnish, now also called Suomenlinna ) in the 18th century helped to improve Helsinki's status. However, it wasn't until Russia defeated Sweden in the Finnish War and annexed Finland as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809 that the city began to develop into a substantial city. The Russians besieged
10318-414: The blade across the opponent's body and back. For straight-edged weapons, many recorded techniques feature cleaving cuts, which deliver the power out to a point, striking directly in at the target's body, done to split flesh and bone rather than slice it. That being said, there also exist many historical slicing techniques for straight-edged weapons. Hacking cuts can be followed by a drawing action to maximize
10452-420: The blade against an opponent even while close to the opponent where a straight sword would be more difficult to pull in the same fashion. The curved edge of an axe means that only a small length of the edge will initially strike the tree, concentrating force as does a thinner edge, whereas a straight edge could potentially land with the full length of its edge against a flat section of the tree. A splitting maul has
10586-541: The blade. Soft-cored blades are more resistant to fracturing on impact. Folding pocket knives often have a groove cut in the side of the blade near the spine. This is called a nail pull and allows the fingernail to be inserted to swing the blade out of the holder. Some of the most common shapes are listed below. The sharp edges of a sword may be either curved or straight. Curved blades tend to glide more easily through soft materials, making these weapons more ideal for slicing. Techniques for such weapons feature drawing
10720-420: The blades apart as they are cutting. This can be challenging for craftspeople as the blades still obscure the cut. "True" left-handed scissors have both reversed finger grips and reversed blade layout, like mirror images of right-handed scissors. A left-handed person accustomed to using semi-left handed scissors may find using true left-handed scissors difficult at first, as they may have learned to rely heavily on
10854-443: The blades meet. The hand movement (pushing with the thumb, pulling with the fingers) can add to this tension. An ideal example is in high-quality tailor's scissors or shears, which need to be able to perfectly cut (and not simply tear apart) delicate cloths such as chiffon and silk. Children 's scissors are usually not particularly sharp, and the tips of the blades are often blunted or 'rounded' for safety. Mechanically, scissors are
10988-457: The bronze, stating that the blade was deposited as an offering to the storm-god by king Tuthaliya . Blade inscriptions become particularly popular in the 12th century knightly sword , based on the earlier, 9th to 11th century, the tradition of the so-called Ulfberht swords . Helsinki Helsinki is the capital and most populous city in Finland . It is on the shore of
11122-405: The cities of Espoo , Vantaa and Kauniainen —and surrounding commuter towns, including the neighbouring municipality of Sipoo to the east —Helsinki forms a metropolitan area . This area is often considered Finland's only metropolis and is the world's northernmost metropolitan area with over one million inhabitants. Additionally, it is the northernmost capital of an EU member state . Helsinki
11256-463: The cities of the capital region and ten surrounding municipalities: Hyvinkää , Järvenpää , Kerava , Kirkkonummi , Nurmijärvi , Sipoo , Tuusula , Pornainen , Mäntsälä and Vihti . The Metropolitan Area covers 3,697 square kilometres (1,427 sq mi) and has a population of about 1.6 million, or about a fourth of the total population of Finland. The metropolitan area has a high concentration of employment: approximately 750,000 jobs. Despite
11390-431: The city centre to Helsinki's northern border, is an important recreational area for residents. The City of Helsinki has about 11,000 boat moorings and over 14,000 hectares (35,000 acres; 54 square miles) of marine fishing waters adjacent to the capital region. About 60 species of fish are found in this area, and recreational fishing is popular. Helsinki's main islands include Seurasaari , Lauttasaari and Korkeasaari –
11524-441: The cut's effectiveness. For more information see Western Martial Arts or kenjutsu . Some weapons are made with only a single leading edge, such as the sabre or dusack . The dusack has a 'false edge' near the tip, which only extends down a portion of the blade's backside. Other weapons have a blade that is entirely dull except for a sharpened point, like the épée or foil , which prefer thrusts over cuts. A blade cannot perform
11658-590: The cutting location is twice that of the applied force at the handles. Scissors cut material by applying at the cutting location a local shear stress which exceeds the material's shear strength . Some scissors have an appendage, called a finger brace or finger tang, below the index finger hole for the middle finger to rest on to provide for better control and more power in precision cutting. A finger tang can be found on many quality scissors (including inexpensive ones) and especially on scissors for cutting hair (see hair scissors pictured below). In hair cutting, some claim
11792-481: The downtown area include Malmi ( Swedish : Malm ), located in the northeastern part of city, and Itäkeskus ( Swedish : Östra centrum ), in the eastern part of city. Carl Ludvig Engel , appointed to plan a new city centre on his own, designed several neoclassical buildings in Helsinki. The focal point of Engel's city plan was the Senate Square . It is surrounded by the Government Palace (to
11926-461: The east), the main building of Helsinki University (to the west), and (to the north) the large Helsinki Cathedral , which was finished in 1852, twelve years after Engel's death. Helsinki's epithet , "The White City of the North", derives from this construction era. Most of Helsinki's older buildings were built after the 1808 fire; before that time, the oldest surviving building in the center of Helsinki
12060-486: The eastern district of Vuosaari : the 87-meter, 26-story Cirrus was completed in 2006, the 24-story, 85-meter-tall Hyperion was completed in 2023 and the 33-story, 288-apartment, 120-meter-tall Atlas is due to be completed in late 2024. Skyscrapers have also be planned in the Pasila area, with a handful of over-100-meter-tall towers in various stages of planning or early construction as of 2024. In Jätkäsaari ,
12194-427: The energy of impact without fracturing but which would bend and poorly retain an edge, and hard steels more liable to shatter on impact but which retained an edge well. The combination provided a sword that would resist impact while remaining sharp, even though the edge could chip if abused. Pattern welding involved forging together twisted bars of soft (bendable) low carbon and hard (brittle) higher carbon iron. This
12328-468: The extent that there were even three of them, were not the crusades that had been imagined. Later, the conquest of Finland was justified in terms of "civilisation" and "christianisation", and the myth of the Crusades was developed. It is more likely that it was a multidimensional combination of economic, cultural and political power ambitions. The early settlements were raided by Vikings until 1008, and
12462-408: The fact they can cut food, they are still capable of inflicting injury. Plastic blades of designs other than disposable cutlery are prohibited or restricted in some jurisdictions as they are undetectable by metal detectors. Native copper was used to make blades by ancient civilizations due to its availability. Copper's comparative softness causes it to deform easily; it does not hold an edge well and
12596-475: The fortress. Helsinki was also the most important cattle-breeding area in Uusimaa. With the help of trade, Helsinki became one of the wealthiest cities in Finland and Uusimaa. Thanks to trade and travel, e.g. to Reval, people could speak several languages, at least helpfully. Depending on the situation, Finnish, Swedish, Latin or Low German could be heard in the Helsinki area. Written chronicles from 1417 mention
12730-902: The fountain sculpture Havis Amanda (1908), the Paavo Nurmi statue (1925), the Three Smiths Statue (1932), the Aleksis Kivi Memorial (1939), the Eino Leino Statue (1953), the Equestrian statue of Marshal Mannerheim (1960) and the Sibelius Monument (1967). As is the case with all Finnish municipalities , Helsinki's city council is the main decision-making organ in local politics, dealing with issues such as urban planning , schools, health care, and public transport . The council
12864-414: The glass-walled Sanomatalo (1999). There have been many plans to build highrise buildings in Helsinki since the 1920s when architect Eliel Saarinen proposed the 85-meter-tall Kalevalatalo in 1921, but few tall buildings were built until the 21st century. In 1924 Oiva Kallio won Etu-Töölö competition with his plan (several 14- to 16-story buildings). A 32-story city hall was also proposed. Other plans of
12998-433: The handles by a thin, flexible strip of curved bronze which served to hold the blades in alignment, to allow them to be squeezed together, and to pull them apart when released. Spring scissors continued to be used in Europe until the 16th century. However, pivoted scissors of bronze or iron , in which the blades were pivoted at a point between the tips and the handles, the direct ancestor of modern scissors, were invented by
13132-874: The headquarters of the paper company Stora Enso and the concert venue Finlandia Hall , have been subject to divided opinions from the citizens. Functionalist buildings in Helsinki by other architects include the Olympic Stadium , the Tennis Palace , the Rowing Stadium , the Swimming Stadium , the Velodrome , the Glass Palace , the Töölö Sports Hall , and Helsinki-Malmi Airport . The sports venues were built to serve
13266-411: The intended use of the blade, the material it is to be made from, and any manufacturing processes (such as heat treatment in the case of steel blades that will affect a blade's hardness and toughness). A balance must be found between the sharpness and how well it can last. Methods that can circumvent this include differential hardening . This method yields an edge that can hold its sharpness as well as
13400-412: The intensity of land use, the region also has large recreational areas and green spaces. The Helsinki metropolitan area is the world's northernmost urban area with a population of over one million people, and the northernmost EU capital city. The Helsinki urban area is an officially recognized urban area in Finland , defined by its population density. The area stretches throughout 11 municipalities, and
13534-510: The larger implements tend to be called shears . Hair-cutting shears have specific blade angles ideal for cutting hair . Using the incorrect type of scissors to cut hair will result in increased damage or split ends, or both, by breaking the hair. Kitchen shears, also known as kitchen scissors, are intended for cutting and trimming foods such as meats. Inexpensive, mass-produced modern scissors are often designed ergonomically with composite thermoplastic and rubber handles. The noun scissors
13668-514: The late 18th and early 19th centuries. Thiers, in the Puy-de-Dôme department of Auvergne, remains an important centre of scissor and cutlery production. It is home to both the Musée de la Coutellerie, which showcases the town's 800-year history of blade-making, as well as Coutellia , an industry tradeshow that advertises itself as one of the largest annual gatherings of artisanal blade-makers in
13802-404: The latitude, the days around the winter solstice are 5 hours and 48 minutes long, with the sun very low (at noon the sun is just over 6 degrees in the sky), and the cloudy weather at this time of year exacerbates the darkness. Conversely, Helsinki enjoys long days in summer, with 18 hours and 57 minutes of daylight around the summer solstice . The average maximum temperature from June to August
13936-497: The latter is home to Finland's largest zoo, Korkeasaari Zoo . The former military islands of Vallisaari and Isosaari are now open to the public, but Santahamina is still in military use. The most historic and remarkable island is the fortress of Suomenlinna (Sveaborg). The island of Pihlajasaari is a popular summer resort, comparable to Fire Island in New York City . There are 60 nature reserves in Helsinki with
14070-417: The left hand. Because scissors have overlapping blades, they are not symmetric. This asymmetry is true regardless of the orientation and shape of the handles and blades: the blade that is on top always forms the same diagonal regardless of orientation. Human hands are asymmetric, and when closing the scissors the thumb and fingers do not close vertically, but have a lateral component to the motion. Specifically,
14204-409: The majority of workers were Finnish-speaking. The local Helsinki slang (or stadin slangi ) developed among Finnish children and young people from the 1890s as a mixed Finnish-Swedish language, with influences from German and Russian , and from the 1950s the slang began to become more Finnish. A landmark event was the 1952 Olympic Games , which were held in Helsinki. Finland's rapid urbanisation in
14338-440: The material. This necessitates the blade being strong enough to resist breaking before the other material gives way. The angle at which the faces meet is important as a larger angle will make for a duller blade while making the edge stronger. A stronger edge is less likely to dull from fracture or have the edge roll out of shape. The shape of the blade is also important. A thicker blade will be heavier and stronger and stiffer than
14472-471: The most populous municipality in Finland and the third in the Nordics . The Helsinki region is the largest urbanised area in Finland with 1,603,170 inhabitants. The city of Helsinki is home to 12% of Finland's population. 19.9% of the population has a foreign background, which is twice above the national average. However, it is lower than in the major Finnish cities of Espoo or Vantaa . At 53 percent of
14606-467: The northern location would suggest, with an average of −4 °C (25 °F) in January and February. Winters in Helsinki are significantly warmer than in the north of Finland, and the snow season in the capital is much shorter due to its location in the extreme south of Finland and the urban heat island effect. Temperatures below −20 °C (−4 °F) occur only a few times a year. However, due to
14740-458: The population of the city nearly doubled from 275,000 to 525,600. In the 1960s, the population growth of Helsinki began to decrease, mainly due to a lack of housing. Some residents began to move to the neighbouring cities of Espoo and Vantaa, resulting in increased population growth in both municipalities. Espoo's population increased ninefold in sixty years, from 22,874 people in 1950 to 244,353 in 2009. Vantaa saw an even more dramatic change in
14874-458: The population, women form a greater proportion of Helsinki residents than the national average of 51 percent. Helsinki's population density of 3,147 people per square kilometre makes Helsinki the most densely-populated city in Finland. The life expectancy for men and women is slightly below the national averages: 75.1 years for men as compared to 75.7 years, 81.7 years for women as compared to 82.5 years. Helsinki has experienced strong growth since
15008-539: The railway and industrialisation were key factors in the city's growth. By the 1910s, Helsinki's population was already over 100,000, and despite the turbulence of Finnish history in the first half of the 20th century, Helsinki continued to grow steadily. This included the Finnish Civil War and the Winter War , both of which left their mark on the city. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were roughly equal numbers of Finnish and Swedish speakers in Helsinki;
15142-437: The right hand, the shearing edge is visible, but when they are used with the left hand, the cutting edge of the scissors is behind the top blade, and the cutter cannot see what is being cut. There are two varieties of left-handed scissors. Many common left-handed scissors (often called "semi"-left-handed scissors) simply have reversed finger grips. The blades open and close as with right-handed scissors, so that users tend to pull
15276-404: The ring finger is inserted where some place their index finger, and the little finger rests on the finger tang. For people who do not have the use of their hands, there are specially designed foot-operated scissors. Some quadriplegics can use a motorized mouth-operated style of scissor. Most scissors are best suited for use with the right hand, but left-handed scissors are designed for use with
15410-536: The rule of the Russian Empire , Helsinki was known as Gel'singfors ( Гельсингфорс ) in Russian, because the main and official language of Grand Duchy of Finland was Swedish. In Helsinki slang , the city is called Stadi (from the Swedish word stad , meaning 'city'). Abbreviated form Hesa is equally common, but its use is associated with people of rural origin ("junantuomat", lit. "brought by
15544-400: The strength of their thumb to pull the blades apart vs. pushing the blades together in order to cut. Some scissors are marketed as ambidextrous . These have symmetric handles so there is no distinction between the thumb and finger handles, and have very strong pivots so that the blades rotate without any lateral give. However, most "ambidextrous" scissors are in fact still right-handed in that
15678-442: The technique of differential hardening by covering their sword blades in different thicknesses of clay before quenching . Thinner clay allowed the heated metal to cool faster, particularly along the edge. Faster cooling resulted in a finer crystal structure, resulting in a blade with a hard edge but a more flexible body. European sword makers produced similar results using differential tempering . Blades dull with use and abuse. This
15812-441: The thumb pushes out from the palm and the fingers pull inwards. For right-handed scissors held in the right hand, the thumb blade is closer to the user's body, so that the natural tendency of the right hand is to push the cutting blades together. Conversely, if right-handed scissors are held in the left hand, the natural tendency of the left hand would be to push the cutting blades apart. Furthermore, with right-handed scissors held by
15946-584: The time, such as Helsingør in Denmark and Helsingborg in Sweden. When a town was founded in the village of Forsby (later Koskela ) in 1548, it was called Helsinge fors , 'Helsinge rapids'. The name refers to the Vanhankaupunginkoski [ fi ] rapids at the mouth of the river. The town was commonly known as Helsinge or Helsing , from which the modern Finnish name
16080-492: The time, was also moved to Helsinki and eventually became the modern University of Helsinki. The move consolidated the city's new role and helped set it on a path of continuous growth. This transformation is most evident in the city centre, which was rebuilt in the neoclassical style to resemble St. Petersburg, largely according to a plan by the German-born architect C. L. Engel . As elsewhere, technological advances such as
16214-446: The upper blade is on the right, and hence is on the outside when held in the right hand. Even if they cut successfully, the blade orientation will block the view of the cutting line for a left-handed person. True ambidextrous scissors are possible if the blades are double-edged and one handle is swung all the way around (to almost 360 degrees ) so that what were the backs of the blades become the new cutting edges. U.S. patent 3,978,584
16348-515: The village of Koskela near the rapids at the mouth of the River Vantaa , where Helsinki was to be founded. Helsinki was founded by King Gustav I of Sweden on 12 June 1550 as a trading town called Helsingfors to rival the Hanseatic city of Reval (now Tallinn ) on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland . To populate the new town at the mouth of the Vantaa River , the king ordered
16482-551: The world. Germany was responsible for manufacturing just under 7% of global scissors exports in 2019. Often called "The City of Blades", Solingen , in North Rhine-Westphalia, has been a center for the manufacturing of scissors since medieval times. At the end of the 18th century it's estimated that there were over 300 scissorsmiths in Solingen. In 1995 the City of Solingen passed The Solingen Ordinance, an update to
16616-541: Was awarded for true ambidextrous scissors. Specialized scissors and shears include: Due to their ubiquity across cultures and classes, scissors have numerous representations across world culture. Numerous art forms worldwide enlist scissors as a tool/material with which to accomplish the art. For cases where scissors appear in or are represented by the final art product, see Commons:Category:Scissors in art . Heinrich Hoffmann 's 1845 children's book Struwwelpeter includes Die Geschichte vom Daumenlutscher ("The Story of
16750-508: Was done because furnaces of the time were typically able to produce only one grade or the other, and neither was well suited for more than a very limited use blade. The ability of modern steelmakers to produce very high-quality steels of various compositions has largely relegated this technique to either historical recreations or to artistic works. Acid etching and polishing blades made of different grades of steel can be used to produce decorative or artistic effects. Japanese sword makers developed
16884-451: Was established in 1902. Both now focus on high-end/niche crafting of "products for life" rather than mass production. Between these two firms it is estimated that there are no more than ten "putter-togetherers" or "putters" who are the master-trained craftspeople responsible for high quality Sheffield scissor assembly. In 2020, Ernest Wright was recognized with the Award for Endangered Crafts by
17018-485: Was established in 1948. Helsinki's official plant is the Norway maple and its official animal is the red squirrel . The Helsinki capital region ( Finnish : Pääkaupunkiseutu , Swedish : Huvudstadsregionen ) comprises four municipalities: Helsinki, Espoo , Vantaa , and Kauniainen . The Helsinki urban area is considered to be the only metropolis in Finland . It has a population of about 1.26 million, and
17152-494: Was founded in 1869. Scissormaking in Japan evolved from sword making in the 14th century. Seki, in Gifu Prefecture, was a renowned center of swordmaking beginning in the 1200s. After citizens were no longer permitted to carry swords, the city's blacksmiths turned to making scissors and knives. There are many specialized types of Japanese scissors, but sewing scissors were introduced by American Commodore Matthew Perry from
17286-600: Was not possible. Some of them, including The Kremlin Letter (1970), Reds (1981), and Gorky Park (1983). was possible due to such Russian cities as Leningrad and Moscow also having similar neoclassical architecture. At the same time due to Cold War and Finnish relations with the USSR the government secretly instructed Finnish officials not to extend assistance to such film projects. There are some films where Helsinki has been represented on its own in films, most notably
17420-515: Was producing scissors by 1760, although it is believed the business began trading even earlier. The first trade-mark, 332, was granted in 1791. The company is still manufacturing scissors today, and is the oldest company in the West to do so. Pivoted scissors were not manufactured in large numbers until 1761, when Robert Hinchliffe of Sheffield produced the first pair of modern-day scissors made of hardened and polished cast steel . His major challenge
17554-795: Was the Helsinki Central Station . Opposite the Bank of Finland building is the Renaissance Revivalish the House of the Estates (1891). The only visible public buildings of the Gothic Revival architecture in Helsinki are St. John's Church (1891) in Ullanlinna, which is the largest stone church in Finland, and its twin towers rise to 74 meters and have 2,600 seats. Other examples of neo-Gothic include
17688-454: Was the first regional center in the 1980s. Efforts have also been made to protect Helsinki in the late 20th century, and many old buildings have been renovated. Modern architecture is represented, for example, by the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma , which consists of two straight and curved-walled parts, though this style strongly divided the opinions from the citizens. Next to Kiasma is
17822-663: Was the town's sole remaining artisanal scissor manufacturer. Sheffield was home to the first mass production of scissors beginning in 1761. By the 19th century there were an estimated 60 steel scissor companies in Sheffield. However, since the 1980s, industry globalization and a shift towards cheaper, mass-produced scissors created price deflation that many artisanal manufacturers could not compete with. The Sheffield scissor industry consisted of just two local companies in 2021. The two remaining Sheffield scissor manufacturers are William Whiteley, founded in 1760, and Ernest Wright , which
17956-576: Was to form the bows; first, he made them solid, then drilled a hole, and then filed away metal to make this large enough to admit the user's fingers. This process was laborious, and apparently Hinchliffe improved upon it in order to increase production. Hinchliffe lived in Cheney Square (now the site of Sheffield Town Hall ), and set up a sign identifying himself as a "fine scissor manufacturer". He achieved strong sales in London and elsewhere. During
#900099