gibson.seth•15d agoProlific Poster

Clipper blade caught fire mid haircut yesterday

I was doing a skin fade on this high school kid in my shop in Austin when my Wahl Legend blade just started smoking and sparked up. Had to stop mid stroke and tell the kid to hold on while I grabbed my backup clippers from the drawer. Has anyone else had a clipper just die like that on a paying customer?

3 comments

3 Comments

jakef6615d agoMost Upvoted

My buddy's Andis clipper shot a blue spark right across his customer's ear last month. Kid didn't flinch but the dad wanted a free cut. I figure at least yours waited until you were almost done with the fade.

davis.diana15d ago

Wait, did you check the clipper blade alignment or was it just an all of a sudden thing? Man, that's rough. I had something similar happen with my Oster 76s once, the motor just locked up mid fade and I had to finish with my old cordless Andis I hate using. It's that moment when the kid's looking at you in the mirror and you're trying to stay cool but inside you're panicking. I feel your pain, especially when it's a skin fade and you're so close to being done. At least you had the backup ready to go, that's the only way to survive in this business.

kai56415d ago

Austin Texas, that's rough man. Honestly I gotta disagree with you though - this sounds like user error, not a clipper problem. Wahl Legends are workhorses if you keep the oil in them. I'd bet that blade was dry or packed with hair for a while before it sparked. @jakef66's buddy's situation is different cause Andis has that plastic housing that can arc if you don't clean it right. Ngl you probably just let it run too long without maintenance and the kid was unlucky enough to be the one in the chair when it gave up. Blades don't just catch fire on their own.