Spring shears

The bow shears are characterised by a very broad range of applications. They were used for personal hygiene – cutting hair and trimming beards, in the household, as well as in craft workshops for cutting leather or cloth. They were also used for shearing sheep. The most commonly found spring or bow shears were known to Ancient Greeks in the 4th century BC. They were forged from a single, U-shaped piece of iron. They worked by pressing on both arms, which returned to their original position thanks to the elasticity of the iron. Lever scissors, which were characterised by more complicated design, became common only in the late Middle Ages. Unlike spring shears, lever shears are made of two pieces of iron joined together by a rivet, and their principle of operation is based on levers.

Grzegorz Durdyń