Thinning Shear Tooth Count
First, some background: I'm the main groomer for our little OES lad (~25" and 75lbs). He's 11 months old and I've been doing the majority of his grooming for the last 9 months (my wife takes care of the bum trimming). Now that his hair is getting longer, we'd like to be able to make his ears, feet and bum look nice (as opposed to looking chopped off as they do now).  and 
He's matt free (so far), and gets completely line-brushed every 6-7 days. He's not being shown, so his grooming and trimming have been for function and comfort alone up until now - we'd just like him to look a little prettier/like a show dog. Now, my question: I'm looking into buying thinning shears to make everything blend nicely. For those who regularly use thinning shears and/or have experimented with various brands/tooth counts - what should I be looking for? Comb-like blades on one or both sides of the shears? Tooth count (I see anything from 30 to 56 teeth are available)? Anything else? Thanks in advance for the advice, Craig |
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| Hi Craig,
I'll bet you get all kinds of answers on this question! Having just started a nice collection of fancy grooming shears that's what I've learned. (For trimming bums and feet I have a 10" curved shears, not a thinning shears.) One OES breeder who is also a professional hair stylist recommended a two-sided thinner with 42-46 teeth. Another breeder who mentored under that same person said the two-sided thinner takes off too much hair at once and recommends a one-sided (serrations on one blade and the other blade unserrated) . Everyone that shows OES has their own personal favorite. I have had good luck with a 38 tooth one-sided thinning shears. Much more forgiving than the finer toothed shears but still gets the job done. Lately I've developed a scissors fetish and have bought four or five different ones. 
Will be interesting to hear what everyone else uses.  |
| I do like the one sided ones myself. I also do not show but like my dog to look his best, too! The thing that's great about the thinning shears is that it's really hard to make mistakes because it's a slow going process. A little here, a little there. I use mine really just for blending, like when I get to the end of whatever trimming that I'm doing and I want to blend any blunt edges-- it's a good cheater's way out precision cutting with shears!
I want to say that mine have 38 teeth but I can't remember of the top of my head. I have another pair that is longer than those and I find them too cumbersome in my hand. I like the shorter ones for sure. By the way, I actually had to look twice at your pics at first because I didn't know why you were using pics of Clyde-- then I realized that you weren't. He and Clyde could be brothers! This is only his one side but his other side the dark does down further on his leg just like your boy.  |
| I guess I should have been more clear - the thinning shears will definitely be for "finishing" and blending, not for the actual trim. That'll still be accomplished with regular shears. I fear it would take forever to make any progress if I used thinning shears alone. |
| Craig,
Welcome to the forum, tell us a bit more about your Bobtail boy - oh and yourself and the other family uprights as well when you get a moment. Also let us know where in Ontario you are. We have a number of members in Ontario and we are all continually out looking for "playdates" with other Bobtails. Shears and thinning shears preferences are very personal issues. What works for one dog/groomer combination won't necessarily be right for the next dog/groomer pair. I have found that it is best to listen to a number of opinions and then try out a few for yourself to learn what works for you and develop your own technique. That is of course rather more easily said than done when quality shears cost so much. What you might want to try is getting one or two pair of relatively cheap thinning shears from a drug store or beauty supply shop/distributor and working with them for a while. That way, without spending an obscene amount of money you can begin to "refine" your preferences. Based on what you learned with the first two, you can then buy a third pair of relatively inexpensive thining shears that should be pretty much the ideal specifications for you and your dog - single versus double, tine count, smooth versus serated edge etc.. When you have used these for a while and are comfortable with them and are sure that they are the "right ones" you can finally buy a good pair with minimal, if any, changes in specifications and hence risk. The big benefit of "quality shears" is the high quality steel which will hold its edge longer and can be resharpened when they do eventually loose their edge. The drug store shears will dull relatively quickly and don't resharpen very well, hence why they are only $25.00 or even less per pair. I was able to "test drive" 3 pair of very good shears at the national specialty a couple of years ago and that is how I determined what I like and what worked for me. Without that chance I wouldn't have known what to select and could have very easily made a few very expensive mistakes blindly selecting one set of shears over another. While this doesn't give you specific recommendations hopefully the methodology will help you along. Thanks and Cheers Carl |
| I am new to this myself but I wanted to comment on how pretty a dog you have. He is the same age as my Bingley and I love seeing the similarities and differences! He looks great! |
| Thanks to everyone who has offered advice thus far. Looks like I will be testing out a few different shears to find out which ones work best for me.
For those who use a variety of thinning shears and/or have used a variety in the past, do you find that 30-tooth shears remove too much coat? Or that 40+ tooth shears remove too little coat and have you working for longer than you'd like to get the look you want? I'm looking to narrow down the number of mistakes I have to make (take out too much coat, try to hide holes), and the number/type of shears I need to test. I figure that very few people outside of OES owners/breeders understand the coat, so I'm hesitant to just ask a groomer who likely deals with terriers/toy dogs what they would suggest. Craig |
| If you're only blending with them, you don't use them that much anyway so I wouldn't worry about having to go at it too long with any of them. You shouldn't get too much of a hand ache! I really don't feel like any of the ones I have take too much coat out so I'd have to say, in that case, the teeth don't make an incredible difference. You won't take out chunks-- don't worry about that. It's very subtle. |
| Hi craig,
I use one sided thinning shears to blend the butt. This is them in action. 
You have a very handsome boy.  |
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