Sharpening garden shears

[RogerS]

I am embarassed to admit to not doing very well at this. Can anyone please recommend any good Youtube videos ?

TIA

 

[AndyT]

It's not a video, but this is what my "Handyman's How to do it in Pictures", from about 1952 says to do.

 

[RogerS]

Thanks Andy.

"No fingers were lost in the taking of this photograph" :lol:

It's more or less what I've been doing but without much success. Also our shears only have one 'cutting edge' and so not too sure what to do with the 'non-edged' blade.

 

[AndyT]

That sounds odd and I'm struggling to imagine it. Surely both blades need a non-rounded edge with a steepish angle of about 80 degrees, just like giant scissors?

Or are they loppers, where one side is a sort of flat anvil with a bit of a groove along it?

I sharpen our shears with an old Elephant brand stone. It's like a flat cigar, made of quite coarse abrasive. I think that the tiny irregularities it leaves prevent whatever I'm shearing from sliding along the blades. I admit that I don't always get the stepladder out.

 

[RogerS]

Not very good photos, I'm afraid.

Here's the 'blunt' edge ..




and the 'sharp' edge

 

[AJB Temple]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Am-Tech-Amtech ... r=8-6&th=1

£8.99 and in stock for delivery tomorrow.

 

[RogerS]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Am-Tech-Amtech-Grass-Trimmers-Transparent/dp/B0065I0ZAG/ref=sr_1_6?crid=2LWR3XNEEK6RU&keywords=garden%2Bshears%2Bfor%2Bhedges&qid=1692195035&sprefix=Garden%2Bshears%2Caps%2C139&sr=8-6&th=1

£8.99 and in stock for delivery tomorrow.

C-cubed, perhaps, at that price ?

 

[AJB Temple]

I don't know. I use Japanese shears personally for topiary, or electric hedge trimmers or petrol when getting serious. Shears are pretty basic things so not sure how bad they can be.

 

[AndyT]

It's a bit hard to see, but I think your issue is just that the long arris of the blunt blade needs to be sharp, albeit at an angle not far off square. Achieve this by filing/stoning as in the picture, not on the broad surface of the blade, which you should only touch gently, to remove any burr. The chamfer on the back of the other blade doesn't affect the cutting action directly, as the part that cuts will be at the same steep angle as the other blade. But being lighter will help it have a bit of a gentle curve, like scissors, so that the cutting point runs back along the blades in use. I guess one blade is left unchamfered to make the shears more robust. Almost certainly more robust than the Amtech offering.

 

[RogerS]

I don't know. I use Japanese shears personally for topiary, or electric hedge trimmers or petrol when getting serious. Shears are pretty basic things so not sure how bad they can be.

One important aspect is their balance and how they feel 'in the hand'. IMO none of these cheap goods feel 'right'.

 

[RogerS]

Thanks, Andy. Can you expand a bit on this, please ?

... But being lighter will help it have a bit of a gentle curve, like scissors, so that the cutting point runs back along the blades in use. ....

 

[Lurker]

They work like a big pair of scissors.
Have a look at the cutting faces on your best scissors.

 

[AndyT]

Thanks, Andy. Can you expand a bit on this, please ?

... But being lighter will help it have a bit of a gentle curve, like scissors, so that the cutting point runs back along the blades in use. ....

The best description I can offer of the subtle cutting action of scissors is a video. You've probably seen it before but it's a real gem, responsible for a sudden surge of orders for Ernest Wright and Co when it first appeared. Well worth five minutes of anyone's time.

[youtubessl]PWRw_6StpQQ[/youtubessl]

 

[Cabinetman]

Yes very good and interesting, I wonder how they got the belt through the finger holes in the scissors to polish the inside edges, the belt looked as if it went round wheels at each end that were larger than the f/holes, they must have unhooked the belt at one end which seems a bit tedious to say the least.

 

[RogerS]

Thanks Andy. An interesting video and gave me another line of investigation that has born fruit.

After sharpening it (properly and based on your suggestions) I found that it would cut cleanly but only for part of the blade. A straight edge on the blades showed that they both had bends and kinks. I tried straightening them out but without much success. So the shears have gone to the recycling tip.

 

[RogerS]

...and I bought a pair of 'Adrians'



They look out of balance but in the hand, I have to admit not bad. And they cut.

 

[AndyT]

Well, if they get bent, they'll probably be easier to bend back

 

[AJB Temple]

...and I bought a pair of 'Adrians'

They look out of balance but in the hand, I have to admit not bad. And they cut.

:text-bravo: :text-goodpost:

Finally Rog, you are listening to the voice of reason

 

[Woodster]

I don't know. I use Japanese shears personally for topiary, or electric hedge trimmers or petrol when getting serious. Shears are pretty basic things so not sure how bad they can be.

We had some hedges that were beyond us to trim easily so on a recommendation we got a guy in with his assistant. He only uses shears or a battery electric trimmer (depending on the type of hedge). He said he never uses petrol trimmers because he doesn’t want to breathe in the fumes and customers don’t like the noise.
He also mentioned, which I’d heard before (Monty Don?) that cutting with shears manually makes a clean cut helping to avoid disease getting in.

We hardly heard a thing and he did an excellent job.
I’ve bought some telescopic Wolf Garten shears to try out on some of the taller stuff at some point.

https://wolfgarten-tools.co.uk/products ... edge-shear

I paid half that price at the time from Amazon.

 

[AJB Temple]

I think it depends a lot on the hedge.

We have various: conifer, beech, hornbeam, yew, japanese privet, box, bamboo and so on.

For major work on thicker stuff I use large Stihl petrol cutters. These will go through a huge amount of material quickly and will deal with thick branches that the electric cutters cannot touch. For average stuff we use Stihl and Greenworks 40v battery tools. For detail on topiary the Niwaki long handled shears or Japanese hand crossover clippers are best but they are not £8.99. Stihl combi pole hedge cutters and pole chain saw get use a bit too - very hard work as they require a full back harness.

I don't mind hedge cutting except when it is above about 4 metres, but I dislike clearing up.

Edit: also use hedge cutters and the topiary shears to cut ornamental trees - mostly maples of various types. Copied this idea from Hever Castle head gardener (where my wife trained) and it works well. I think the disease thing is an old wives tale personally. I use a bucket of disinfectant though and dip tools between plants when cutting box.

 

[Woodster]

If you compare a branch or stem cut with shears with another shattered or torn by a trimmer I suspect Monty’s comment is possibly correct about infections?

 

[RogerS]

If you compare a branch or stem cut with shears with another shattered or torn by a trimmer I suspect Monty’s comment is possibly correct about infections?

If that was true then we'd not have any hedgerows left in the country. Have you never seen the butchery carried out on the leaves and woody parts after the flail has been along ?

 

[NickM]

There's a Paul Sellers video on this. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KD8BVZ15C6E

I've followed it with reasonable success to sharpen some lawn edging shears.

 

[Trevanion]

If that was true then we'd not have any hedgerows left in the country. Have you never seen the butchery carried out on the leaves and woody parts after the flail has been along ?

There's a farmer locally who is well over eighty years of age who still uses an ancient finger bar trimmer (like a handheld hedge cutter on steroids) off the back of his equally ancient tractor, his hedges are immaculate and much fuller than ones that have been thrashed with a rotary. The nice thing with the finger bar is that you don't need a cage on the tractor to prevent being pummeled by bits of hedge travelling at 100mph.

The world got too big too fast, compared to 1945 we've lost over 50% of our hedgerows with a 70% reduction in the number of farms and 80% fewer jobs in the farming industry, but 400% more yield. Now every farm needs to maintain a massive area (A small farm is considered 400 acres now) so everyone looks for the fastest way possible or reduce the amount of hedges and create mega-fields.

 

[thetyreman]

If that was true then we'd not have any hedgerows left in the country. Have you never seen the butchery carried out on the leaves and woody parts after the flail has been along ?

There's a farmer locally who is well over eighty years of age who still uses an ancient finger bar trimmer (like a handheld hedge cutter on steroids) off the back of his equally ancient tractor, his hedges are immaculate and much fuller than ones that have been thrashed with a rotary. The nice thing with the finger bar is that you don't need a cage on the tractor to prevent being pummeled by bits of hedge travelling at 100mph.

The world got too big too fast, compared to 1945 we've lost over 50% of our hedgerows with a 70% reduction in the number of farms and 80% fewer jobs in the farming industry, but 400% more yield. Now every farm needs to maintain a massive area (A small farm is considered 400 acres now) so everyone looks for the fastest way possible or reduce the amount of hedges and create mega-fields.

yes, this has had a massive impact on nature as well, birds, insects, butterflys e.t.c I always think that hedgerows cut with hand shears look far better to my eye than a hedge trimmer or chainsaw.

 

[thetyreman]

also regarding the shears, it's worth cleaning them with a card scraper to get the gunk off them then wipe them with mineral spirits, sometimes it stops them cutting efficiently and they don't need sharpening once they are clean again.