Sharp tools, sharp mind
- patrickwiltshire3
- Jan 13, 2024
- 2 min read
My New Year's Resolution this year is to sharpen my garden secateurs as a weekly habit; firstly to make ever-clean cuts to my prize plants here in East Yorkshire and secondly to amend my somewhat disposable mindset. Instead of buying a new pair I'm going to spruce up my existing ones. Here's how....
What will sharpening my secateurs look like?
I've found some great pieces of kit to get hold of to keep blades of secateurs ever-keen and effective. I've gone onto the British Bonsai and Niwaki sites and purchased the following sharpening bits:
Bonsai Tool Cleaning Block 120 Grit - cleans off the old 'crud!' built up on the blades
Camellia Oil - lubrcates the clean metal for ongoing tool health
Niwaki Sharpening Stone - sharpens dull blades from repeated use and pruning
Warning: When sharpening tools be mindful of cuts and sharp blades. Wear gloves if you're inexperienced or unsure.
What are the steps I take for sharpening my secateurs?
Clean off the old gunk built up on your secateur blades with the Cleaning Block. I filled a glass bowl with luke warm water (it doesn't need to be luke warm it's just it's been a frosty January morning and I'm cold!) dipped the Block in the water and scrubbed the metal. The black gunk comes off slowly but surely.
Pat the blades dry with a cloth.
Empty and refill the bowl of water. Pop in the whole Sharpening Stone to release the air bubbles in the stone. They escape from the top (quite hypnotic to watch actually.)
After about five-ten minutes take out the Sharpening Stone and clock the curved top (see image below). Hold the Stone in a way that you can run the Stone's curved top over the length of the blade that needs to be sharp - looking close you'll notice the edge is at a slight angle to the rest of the blade. Move the Stone over the length of the blade edge at this angle repeated for two or three minutes.
Turn the secateurs over and remove the black bits (burrs) on the other side. Do this by turning your Stone over to its flat bottom and run it flush over the blade a couple of times to remove the bits. (This is a bit easier as you don't need to follow an angle.)
Finish off dabbing some Camellia Oil on a cloth and giving the metal blades a good, dry clean with the oily cloth.
Keeping good gardening habits
My intention is to sharpen my secateurs weekly. This will keep my well-used secateurs in good nick so my garden plants will be happy - as will my bank account! I really intend to get out of the habit of just picking up new tools from the garden centre when my old ones have given up the ghost, and I'm mindful of maintaining my tools as much as possible from this year on.
