Craft Tool Review: Westcott Spring-Assist Scissors

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.Â 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,Â 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!

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