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Home » Miscellaneous » How to Sharpen Pruning Shears

How to Sharpen Pruning Shears

Updated : August 17, 2015

3 Comments

These Corona pruning shears are one of my favorite tools to use all year round, and I work the heck out of them!

After a while, the blades become gunked up with sap, and nicked from cutting hard branches so it’s very important that I regularly maintain the shears so they will perform properly.

I put a little WD40 on the blade to make sure they keep working right where they hinge.oiling pruning shears

Several times a year I will come in and dress up the edge of the shears a little bit.

This part of the shear is called the bypass, I’m not going to sharpen that side but I will check it for jagged edges and make sure that the surface is smooth.bypass pruning shearsThis side of the shears has a tapered edge and that is the side we are going to sharpen.pruningWhat I use is a piece of 1×2 wood on which I have attached some emery cloth.

I take the shears (the tapered side) and run them along the emery cloth (watch the video below) maintaining the same angle that is already on the blade. Run it across several times.pruning emory cloth

Then I flip it around to the flat side and run it smoothly across the emery cloth to remove any burrs, making sure to keep it flat against the board.pruning flatOnce I’ve done that I run my fingernail across to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

Now my shears are ready for more abuse from me!

 

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Comments

  1. Danny Atherton says

    June 12, 2016 at 5:15 pm

    A very good site and simple to understand,,
    I look forward to learning more & more and more important point is it all makes retirement and my gardening so much more of a pleasure,
    thank you and keep the good work up.

    Reply
  2. Joyce Osborne says

    February 23, 2016 at 1:23 pm

    Thank you for all I have learned about flowers and plants and how to propagate them from your videos.

    Reply
    • Mike says

      February 23, 2016 at 1:36 pm

      You are welcome Joyce, glad you find what I do useful.

      Reply

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