This Hack for Sharpening Your Kitchen Shears Uses One Unlikely Item You Already Have in Your Pantry

Robin Raven
Robin Raven
Robin Raven is an author and journalist who covers such topics as vegan food, plant-based dining, and travel. Her work can be seen in The Washington Post, Forbes.com, USA Today, HuffPost, Travel + Leisure, Reader’s Digest, PEOPLE, Grok Nation, Paste Magazine, and many other publications. Robin is the author of Santa's First Vegan Christmas, The Kindness Workbook: An Interactive Guide for Creating Compassion in Yourself and the World, and The Little Book of Self-Soothing. She takes great joy in the pleasure of eating as a vegan, and she loves to share that spark with readers.
published Oct 13, 2022
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Laurie Jones kitchen
Credit: Petra Ford

Kitchen scissors are a necessary tool that I take for granted way too often. Whether it’s during meal prep or opening the mail, I reach for them at least a few times a day — even more frequently than cooking oil. When the blades dull, though, those simple tasks can suddenly get frustrating. And because kitchen shears are used a lot, it’s easy for the blades to dull in no time. 

Luckily for you (and me!), there’s a quick, painless solution to the problem that haunts us all. According to the popular Instagram account Problem Solved, which was created by USA Today, it’s easy to sharpen your scissors with one simple thing you probably already have in your kitchen.

“If you have dull kitchen shears, you can use foil to get them sharp again,” a the host of the video states. To achieve this, just take a piece of foil, then fold it over a few times — with four to six folds being ideal. Then, as the video shows, you’ll take the dull scissors and cut tiny strips into the foil, helping to sharpen the edge of the blade.

And just like magic, your scissor blades should be sharp and ready to easily slice through what you need to cut in your kitchen. You’ll want to ensure you’re as careful as possible throughout the process, though: As the video notes, you need watch your thumbs as you cut the foil to avoid any mishaps.

Who knew getting sharpened scissors could be as easy as snipping into folded foil? Just don’t use them to slice bagels, or you might ignite a new bagel-slicing controversy.