• About
  • Press
  • Advertise

Craft Test Dummies

The Crafting Blog for Crafters, By Crafters

  • Craft News
    • CHA Coverage
    • Crafting for a Cause
    • Giveaways
    • CTD on TV
    • Quilt Market
  • Craft Product Reviews
    • Apps & Sites
    • Art Supplies/Mixed Media
    • Beads/Jewelry Products
    • Books, Magazines, Events
    • Comparisons
    • Crafty Tools
    • Fabric, Needle, & Quilting Arts
    • Food Crafts
    • Paints, Inks & Dyes
    • Paper Crafts
    • Polymer Clay & Tools
  • Craft Storage and Tips
  • Crafty People & Places
    • Crafty Field Trips
  • Kids Stuff
    • Hands On Crafts For Kids-TV show
  • Winter/Christmas
  • Home Decor
  • Food Crafting/ Party Crafts
  • Valentine’s /Sweetest Day
  • Spring/Easter
  • Wedding & Shower Crafts
  • Father’s Day Crafts
  • Baby & Shower Crafts
  • Mother’s Day Crafts
  • Patriotic crafts
  • Summer Crafts
  • Fall Crafts
    • Halloween Crafts
  • Jenny Sez
    • Sponsored Posts
  • Periscope Superfans Page
Home / Craft Product Reviews / Craft Tool Review: Westcott Spring-Assist Scissors

Craft Tool Review: Westcott Spring-Assist Scissors

March 16, 2010

Spring-Assist Scissors by Westcott

Every crafter I know has a ka-jillion pairs of scissors. And every crafter I know probably needs or will buy one more pair if they are worth it. Today I’m talking about that pair- Westcott Spring-Assist Scissors.

Actually I have TWO pairs of Spring-Assist scissors- the 9″ Titanium Ultra-Smooth scissors and the 6″ “Blooms” .

Let’s start with the larger of the two, the Titanium Ultra-Smooth, which have a mildly blunted tip. The overall length is 9″, but the blade length is about 4″. The blades are also offset, which make them great for cutting large sheets of foam, cloth, or cardboard. The have a molded handle for the top and a contoured “loop” for the bottom handle. This is lovely for right-ies and left-ies alike! The loop also makes it easy to grip these scissors and hold them steady.

A yellow slide lock sits on top

There is also a handy-dandy lock that keeps your scissors safe and secure when they’re not in use. For that matter the Blooms scissors do, too, even though in the photo they’re open. I’m sorry to report that upon finding them, my 9-year-old son pried them open and broke the piece that locks them. Is the plastic too flimsy or is my son a brute? Hard to tell.

But back to the action. These scissors are called “Ultra-Smooth”, and they are! The cutting motion is smooth and clean, and with the spring-assist they glide back open, saving your hands half the effort of regular scissors.

With my background in Activities Directing, I wish they had had these at the nursing homes where I worked back in the day. My residents would have been so much more successful with these scissors. Lighter, easier to close with a power grip, bottom loop to hold them steady…why, even some of my folks with arthritis could have gone back to crafting with them. I really appreciate crafting tools that enable the elderly/disabled to return to crafting, and I feel these scissors to just that.

I used both scissors on foam, paper, cardboard, cardstock, and fabric, and regular paper, and I’m happy to report I was pleased with how they worked. Like all scissors, you should designate certain pairs for fabric and others for paper- otherwise the paper will dull the ones you want to use for fabric. These Westcott scissors are labeled for general use, not specifically for fabric, but I thought they did a great job!

"Blooms" spring-assist ultra-smooth scissors

While the 9″ scissors are great for the big jobs, the “Blooms” scissors (with their pointy 2.5″ blades) are great for everyday use.  I put them in the kitchen drawer and we’ve cut plastic bottles with them, snipped labels off of clothing, cut-out paper shapes (the aforementioned son’s homework), and more. These are sharp little buggers, too, and I would recommend keeping them away from children under 8 years old.

As you can see in the photo, this style features straight handles that are molded and contoured to rest nicely in the hand, but have no bottom loop. These save my hands that extra exertion, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend them for institutional use because of the sharp tip and the instability in the hand for older or disabled users. However, I really love them and they are my “go-to” daily scissors now.

One last thing: they’ve added a little loop on both of these models on the bottom handle- this is so you can add a tag or charm to put your name on them. That way if you go to crops or share an office,  your scissors won’t get confused with someone else’s. It’s a small thing, but a really nice touch.

All in all, I’m very impressed with these scissors- they have rapidly replaced my Fiskars ones as my faves. Look for them soon at a big-box or craft store near you.

Questions or comments? I’d love to hear from you!

FTC Disclosure

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Jenny

Chief Craft Test Dummy, Craft Evangelist, Founder, Editor, bottle-washer, trouble-maker, and creative whirlwind.
  • Spooky Spider Halloween Bookmark Craft - October 24, 2018
  • Review and Demo of LDRS Hybrid Ink Pads - October 15, 2018
  • Review and Demo of Nuvo Hybrid Inks - October 1, 2018
  • Craft Studio Tour and Organization Ideas - September 20, 2018
  • Tonic Studios Dies Unboxing (Giveaway Closed) - April 20, 2018
  • Wax Paper Resist Background Technique - March 20, 2018
  • Comparison of Liquid Watercolor Markers/Pens - March 16, 2018
  • SAI Japanese Traditional Watercolor Brush Markers- Review & Demo - February 23, 2018
  • Rinea Metallic Foil Paper & Ghost Ink Review - February 21, 2018
  • Jane Davenport debuts at Creativation 2018 & Watercolor Card - February 13, 2018

Share this:

  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google
  • LinkedIn
  • More
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr

Posted in Craft Product Reviews, Crafty Tools, Fabric, Needle, & Quilting Arts, Paper Crafts | 1 Comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ctd-headshot-round

Hi! I’m Jenny, the co-host of Hands On Crafts for Kids on PBS and the Head Dummy behind CraftTestDummies.com where you’ll find craft product reviews, tutorials, and craft industry news.

ctd-fb ctd-pin ctd-twitter cts-insta ctd-youtube ctd-g ctd-email

Search

ctd-subscribe
Want weekly craft projects delivered straight to your inbox?

YouTube

Disclosure

CraftTestDummies is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

jenny-headshot-square

Jenny Barnett Rohrs is Head Dummy and Pied Piper behind CTD, which focuses on reviews, tutorials, and craft industry news. Jenny has appeared on HSN, Scrapbook Soup PBS series, and is currently the co-host of Hands On Crafts for Kids on PBS.

ctd-fb-30  ctd-pin-30  ctd-twitter-30  cts-insta-30  ctd-youtube-30  ctd-g-30  ctd-email-30  ctd-rss-30

Copyrighted Content Permission All images and tutorials on this blog are copyrighted material. Please contact me if you would like to borrow any media (photos, video or audio files), tutorials, or ideas from this blog. 99% of the time I would be happy to allow you to use one photo with appropriate credit and link back to CraftTestDummies.com (preferably to the same post it was borrowed from.)
clever-network  linqia  viglink

All content copyright © 2015 Craft Test Dummies | Privacy Policy | Disclosures | Site design by XO Sarah

MENU
  • Craft News
    • CHA Coverage
    • Crafting for a Cause
    • Giveaways
    • CTD on TV
    • Quilt Market
  • Craft Product Reviews
    • Apps & Sites
    • Art Supplies/Mixed Media
    • Beads/Jewelry Products
    • Books, Magazines, Events
    • Comparisons
    • Crafty Tools
    • Fabric, Needle, & Quilting Arts
    • Food Crafts
    • Paints, Inks & Dyes
    • Paper Crafts
    • Polymer Clay & Tools
  • Craft Storage and Tips
  • Crafty People & Places
    • Crafty Field Trips
  • Kids Stuff
    • Hands On Crafts For Kids-TV show
  • Winter/Christmas
  • Home Decor
  • Food Crafting/ Party Crafts
  • Valentine’s /Sweetest Day
  • Spring/Easter
  • Wedding & Shower Crafts
  • Father’s Day Crafts
  • Baby & Shower Crafts
  • Mother’s Day Crafts
  • Patriotic crafts
  • Summer Crafts
  • Fall Crafts
    • Halloween Crafts
  • Jenny Sez
    • Sponsored Posts
  • Periscope Superfans Page