Fixing Chewed Up Scissor Handles ~ Make Do and Mend

The Frugal Upstate family dog is a very sweet girl.  She’s a shelter dog (the runt of the litter in fact) and has been a wonderful addition since we got her years back. 

Actually, she’s almost a perfect dog.  She doesn’t bark much.  She is obedient.  She was easily trained not to get up on the furniture or even to go on the second floor of the house (yes–we make her stay downstairs).  She rarely chews on anything. . . which is why I’m perplexed at how my scissors handles got all chewed up:

Maybe someone left them on the floor and she lost her mind briefly.  Maybe it’s not her fault–I suppose they could have gone down the disposal the wrong way and been damaged, or one of the kids could have suddenly developed a penchant for gnawing on scissor handles. . .

Nah, it was probably the dog.

I guess the reason doesn’t really matter–the fact of the matter is that the blades of the scissors are just fine, there is just a rough chunk out of the handle.  And of course that falls right where the curl of your pinky pushes against the handle, so you are pushing your finger out through this rough plastic hole.  Blech.  The whole thing made them look ugly and uncomfortable to use.

I guess I could have just tossed them and purchased a new pair of scissors.  After all scissors aren’t that expensive.  Well–good sewing scissors or kitchen shears can be quite expensive.  Standard office scissors one uses to cut paper and such aren’t particularly expensive.  But why spend the money?  I’d rather “Make it Do”.

So that’s it–I had to fix my chewed up scissor handles!

So what do you use to fix handles on something like this?  My go to is good old duct tape!  (or Duck Tape if you want to use that brand).

I didn’t take a picture of the wrapping process (hey–I needed both hands and didn’t have a helper available) so I’ll do my best to describe it.  Basically I used a larger piece of duct tape wrapped around to bridge the gap.  Pressed together that filled in the space but was far thinner than the rest of the handle.  So I kept wrapping tape in the middle of the hole until it was as thick as the rest of the handle.

That made it more “solid” but it was pretty messy looking.  To fix things up a bit I cut off a piece of duct tape about 3 inches long and then cut it in half the long way, so I had two thinner pieces about 3 inches long.  I started about an inch to one side of the break (where the handle was solid and good) and started wrapping around the handle, continuing over the spot that was mended and another inch or so onto the good part of the handle on the other side.

Ta-da!  Mended scissor handles!

I’ve been using the scissors like this for several weeks now.  They feel comfortable and solid against my pinky finger and are holding up well.  They’ve even been washed by hand several times with no issue, although I wouldn’t put them through the dishwasher or leave them in a pan of water to soak or anything.

note:  Why do I wash scissors?  Well of course I have my big kitchen shears that I use to cut up meat and such–those get washed all the time.  But I sometimes will use scissors like this to cut herbs in a pinch, or to cut open a vacuum sealed bag of meat. In those cases I prefer to wash the scissors before using them for anything else. 

What do you think of my “Make Do and Mend”?