Scissor Blade Saga: Materials

I was able to find the pieces I needed around my house from previous projects, so I didn’t need to spend any money.

5/4 x 6 pressure treated decking: this board, which I’m using for the blade, was one of many used in a deck my dad built for a church friend this summer. The actual dimensions are 1 1/16" x 5 ½". I could have used a size smaller, but ¾" seemed too thin to me, and with 1/16" extra I have a little room to work in case the board is warped or for sanding it smooth. An 8’ board can be bought at Lowe’s for $4.17, Home Depot for $6.77, and Menards for $9.99. 2 x 8 board: I’m not sure what kind of wood it is, but from five years of working with pine in theatre, I’m pretty sure it’s pine or another similarly-colored wood. The actual dimensions are 1 ½" x 7 ¼". This width is necessary, as the curved portion of the handle is just slightly wider than a width of 6. I also chose a 2x8 over a 1x8 because I figured the combined 1.5 inches of two 1x8s wouldn’t be enough of a size difference between the blade and the handle. An 8’ board can be bought at Lowe’s and Home Depot for $7.97. ½" hardwood dowel: I’ll be using this to stabilize the handle to prevent it from being weak where it connects to the blade at the diamond-shaped section. ¾" will work, but keep in mind that ¾" is pretty thick when compared to the smallest thickness of the handle, which is just over an inch and will not give you much leeway to make a mistake. ½" will not give as much stability as a thicker dowel. A 3’ dowel can be bought at Lowe’s for $2.68, Home Depot for $2.55, and Menards for $1.40. I’ll cut it to 14", long enough to span from nearly the end of the handle to nearly the end of the diamond section.

If you plan on selling scissor blades, I recommend charging only for how much material you actually use. This will put you in the red if you plan on only making one, but the extra material would allow you to save money on subsequent blades or other projects. With 31" of the blade, 30" for the handle, and 14" of the dowel, that comes to anywhere between $4.46 and $6.76, depending on which stores you bought your wood from.