Which Scissors Brand Wins?
In our test we compared 15 scissors options head to head. KAI came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
KAI
Price shown in test: $73
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Gingher
Price shown in test: $31
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KitchenAid
Price shown in test: $9
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The quick take
The short version of why each pick lands where it does, built straight from the measured results.
“So, which scissors are best? The KAI's are definitely the best, but they're also twice as expensive as all the other brands.”
Best in 2 of 6 measurements, including Sharpness after 1000 paper cuts and Sharpness after 10 sandpaper passes.
Best in 1 of 6 measurements, including Sharpness after 1000 paper cuts.
Best in 1 of 6 measurements, including Sharpness after 1000 paper cuts.
The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Products are listed in the order they finished.
Weight
- 1KAI254 g
heaviest of the lineup
- 2Gingher171 g
- 3Klein Tools167 g
- 4Fiskars126 g
- 5Heritage215 g
heaviest at time of introduction
- 6Henckels91 g
- 7Westcott161 g
by far the heaviest at time of introduction
- 8Ultima Classic195 g
- 9Livingo109 g
- 10Scotch77 g
- 11Acme185 g
- 12Bianco130 g
- 13Singer67 g
lightest of the lineup
- 14KitchenAid122 g
heaviest at time of introduction
- 15Stanley92 g
Initial sharpness
- 1KAI220
sharpest of the lineup from the start
- 2Gingher245
took the lead from Klein Tools
- 3Klein Tools270
moved into the lead, described as very impressive
- 4Fiskars355
sharpest yet at that point in the countdown
- 5Heritage345
quite a bit sharper than average
- 6Henckels395
quite a bit sharper than average
- 7Westcott475
nearly as sharp as the KitchenAid
- 8Ultima Classic410
same as Scotch
- 9Livingo390
took the lead over Scotch
- 10Scotch410
200 points sharper than Stanley
- 11Acme575
nearly the same as Singer
- 12Bianco395
nearly as sharp as Livingo, second position at that stage
- 13Singer560
sharper than Stanley but not as sharp as Scotch
- 14KitchenAid470
second position behind Scotch
- 15Stanley610
not very sharp
Sharpness after 1000 paper cuts
- 1KAI2901st
- 2Gingher3101st
first place before KAI overtook it
- 3Klein Tools320
- 4Fiskars400
- 5Heritage410
- 6Henckels460
sharper than average
- 7Westcott525
- 8Ultima Classic4401st
two way tie for first place with Livingo
- 9Livingo4401st
two way tie for first place with Ultima Classic
- 10Scotch545
- 11Acme595
did not start sharp and did not dull much either
- 12Bianco485
sharper than average
- 13Singer570
second position at that stage, performed nearly as well as Scotch
- 14KitchenAid515
held up best yet, moved into the lead
- 15Stanley1015
cost quite a bit of sharpness loss
Sharpness and time after 20 cardboard passes
- 1KAI330
after 43 seconds, fastest and sharpest
- 2Gingher3752nd
after 85 seconds, second place
- 3Klein Tools4202nd
after 90 seconds, second sharpest
- 4Fiskars410
after 70 seconds, very fast
- 5Heritage450
after 85 seconds
- 6Henckels525
after 80 seconds, tied with Bianco for fastest at that stage
- 7Westcott585
after about three and a half minutes (210 seconds), one of the slower brands
- 8Ultima Classic485
after 125 seconds, sharpest at that stage but not designed for thick material
- 9Livingo520
after 115 seconds, took more effort to cut than KitchenAid despite being sharp
- 10Scotch585
after over two and a half minutes (about 150 seconds)
- 11Acme6752nd
after 95 seconds, second fastest at that stage
- 12Bianco570
after 80 seconds, moved into the lead for speed at that stage, offers great leverage
- 13Singer700
after about 90 seconds (just over a minute and a half), fastest at that stage
- 14KitchenAid585
after 85 seconds, quite a bit easier and faster than the first three brands, same sharpness as Scotch
- 15Stanley1075
after about three minutes, very dull
Sharpness after 10 aluminum passes
- 1KAI335
sharpest
- 2Gingher350
moved into the lead, cutting aluminum did not hurt sharpness at all
- 3Klein Tools435
tied for third with Fiskars
- 4Fiskars435
tied for third with Klein Tools
- 5Heritage4905th
fifth place at that stage
- 6Henckels635
- 7Westcott610
- 8Ultima Classic510
- 9Livingo555
- 10Scotch630
lost about 5 percent sharpness
- 11Acme705
minimal sharpness loss
- 12Bianco590
very small sharpness loss
- 13Singer685
stayed nearly the same as before, took less effort than Stanley and Scotch
- 14KitchenAid635
lost about the same amount as Scotch, very easy work of the aluminum
- 15Stanley1230
definitely dulled
Sharpness after 10 sandpaper passes (final)
- 1KAI4601st
first place overall
- 2Gingher5502nd
second place overall
- 3Klein Tools6453rd
moved into first position at that stage among the mid pack, third overall
- 4Fiskars7254th
described as finishing extremely strong
- 5Heritage7305th
- 6Henckels7706th
nearly as good as Fiskars
- 7Westcott7807th
held an edge very well and briefly led abrasion resistance before Fiskars and others passed it
- 8Ultima Classic9458th
moved into second position among mid pack for that stage, performed better than average
- 9Livingo10009th
- 10Scotch117510th
described as extremely dull and too dull to push cut through paper at this stage
- 11Acme119011th
dulled quite a bit
- 12Bianco123512th
- 13Singer1240
thirteenth overall, pretty big sharpness loss
- 14KitchenAid1270
fourteenth overall, performed very well overall but lost quite a bit of sharpness here
- 15Stanley1650
fifteenth and last overall, an additional 13 percent sharpness loss
All measurements (1 more)+
Resharpened on a flat sharpening stone
- 10Scotch575
from 1175, after about a minute of sharpening
- 1KAInot tested
- 2Ginghernot tested
- 3Klein Toolsnot tested
- 4Fiskarsnot tested
- 5Heritagenot tested
- 6Henckelsnot tested
- 7Westcottnot tested
- 8Ultima Classicnot tested
- 9Livingonot tested
- 11Acmenot tested
- 12Bianconot tested
- 13Singernot tested
- 14KitchenAidnot tested
- 15Stanleynot tested
How it was tested
- initial sharpness using a Best Certified Sharpness Tester, measured in grams of downward force to cut test media
- sharpness after 1,000 cuts through standard paper, a total cut length of three football fields
- sharpness and cut time after 20 passes through cardboard
- sharpness after 10 passes through thin aluminum flashing, testing whether cutting metal hones or dulls the blade
- sharpness (abrasion resistance) after 10 passes through folded 400 grit sandpaper
- resharpening via a flat sharpening stone, demonstrated only on the Scotch brand
“So, which scissors are best? The KAI's are definitely the best, but they're also twice as expensive as all the other brands.”
Data notes and caveats
Very clean, internally consistent numeric progression across all 15 brands and all 5 test stages, with only one recurring caption drift: the brand KAI is spelled correctly at its price introduction and briefly afterward but drifts to the homophone KEI through most of the middle and late sections of the video; resolved to KAI throughout per the description's product list, since every other detail (most expensive at 73 dollars, made in Japan, sharpest scissors throughout) matches the same brand consistently. The closing recommendation section names three separate picks beyond the outright winner: KitchenAid as the cheap budget pick (around 10 dollars), Fiskars as the pick if spending a bit more, and Klein Tools praised for durability; only KitchenAid was recorded in the budgetPick field, the Fiskars and Klein Tools mentions are preserved in their own product notes since the schema has no field for a second and third recommendation. runnerUp is set to Gingher based on the transcript's own explicit final ranking after all four physical tests (KAI 460, Gingher 550, Klein Tools 645, Fiskars 725, Heritage 730), which is distinct from the host's separate value based recommendations in the closing section. The video description's top Brands line lists Heritage, but the affiliate link Products Tested list beneath it omits Heritage entirely, a partial description inconsistency; Heritage is nonetheless extensively and consistently tested in the transcript with its own chapter, so it is included as a full product. Chapters named after individual brands (Fiskars, Kitchenaid Scissors, Westcott, Heritage Scissors) mark rough transition points in the video rather than segments exclusively about that one brand, so they are only loosely precise; the Sharpness, Abrasion Resistance, and What Scissors Are Best chapters align cleanly with their corresponding test sections.
