PURPOSE: To eliminate troubles of bending the leading end of a plate material to aim at preventing noise and at enhancing the accuracy of a product, by separating a movable blade from a stationary blade after the plate material left just after shearing is retracted to a position away from the movable blade.

CONSTITUTION: A movable upper blade 3 of a shearing machine 1 shears a plate material 9 gripped by a gripping pawl device 13 positioned in front of the shearing machine 1 in cooperation with a stationary lower blade 7 arranged at the trailing edge of a work table 5. This shearing method comprises the steps of positioning the plate material 9 at a desired widthwise dimension, lowering the movable blade 3 to shear the plate material 9, and thereafter releasing the clamp of the plate material while a numerical control type moving and positioning device 11 is operated to retract the plate material 9 slightly from the movable blade 3. Thereafter, the movable blade is elevated to separate the movable blade 3 from the stationary blade 7. With this arrangement, it is possible to completely remove troubles of bending the leading end of the plate material 9, thereby it is possible to prevent noise from being generated and to enhance the accuracy of a product.