Country Living in a Cariboo Valley

Homesteading in BC

  • How to Get Started
  • Vegetable Gardening
  • Preserving Food
  • Recipes
  • Homemade Wine Recipes
  • About Us
  • Work With Me
  • Shop
    • Vegetable Garden Planner Printable: Grow Your Best Garden Ever
    • Grow Enough Food for a Year
    • Delicious Dandelions: A Recipe Collection
    • Dirt to Dollars: Selling at the Farmers Market
    • 8 Pounds in 8 Weeks: Raising Chicks for the Dinner Table
    • Making Wild Wine
    • Build a Hanging Chicken Feeder
    • 15 Things to Know About Living in the Country

How to Clean and Sharpen Pruning Shears

By Annie

This post contains affiliate links. Learn More

Good pruning shears are an expensive, but worthwhile investment in garden tools. Good pruners are a pleasure to use, and with a little care and maintenance, can provide years of service. Here are some tips on how to clean and sharpen pruning shears.

When using pruning shears, be careful not to catch support wires or wire fencing in the blades since this will severely damage the cutting edges.

Every time you put your garden pruners away, take the time to clean them properly. A few moments on maintenance will make your garden shears last much longer.

A sharp clean pair of pruning shears cutting raspberry canes.
When you take care of your tools, they last longer and work better!

How to Take Care of Pruning Shears

When you buy new hand shears, it’s best to give the trimmers a rudimentary clean with some soapy water.

Before storing the pruning shears, wipe any moisture, dirt, grease, grime, or sap from the blades with a clean rag using a smooth motion. If the sap is difficult to remove, use steel wool and really rub those spots down. Here’s where you can get dry steel wool.

If there are any rust spots on the blades, you can rub those areas with dry steel wool as well. A drop of oil on the pivot point will keep the blades moving smoothly.

 

Examine the Blades of your Garden Shears

Sharp clippers make pruning easier on the gardener and healthier for plants. Crushed, torn or splintered branches indicate dull cutting edges.

Examine both blades carefully. The thick metal blade is called the anvil, and a thinner curved blade is the cutting blade.

To maximize the shearing effect of the anvil blade, there should be a clean right-angle where the top of the blade and the side of the blade meet.

The 90-degree angle of the anvil forms the cutting edge. There should be no dings or ragged bits of metal showing along the length of the angle.

The second blade is the cutting blade. It works like a guillotine to shear branches pressed against the anvil.

It should have a smooth knife-edge, with no visible dents or chips. If damage is visible on either one of the blades, they need to be sharpened.

clean and sharpen pruning shears to make them last
Keeping your hand pruners sharp makes the job easier and safer to complete!

How do you sharpen Pruning Shears yourself?

Some garden centers will sharpen pruning shears for a fairly reasonable price, but it is a job that a do-it-yourself-gardener can manage at home. All it takes are:

  • A fine-toothed flat file, or a sharpening stone.
  • A few drops of machine oil.
  • A little care and patience.

If the anvil blade is damaged, wrap a bit of rag around the opposite cutting blade before proceeding to avoid cut fingers.

Use the sharpening stone to smooth burrs and dings on the anvil blade. Strive to maintain a clean right-angle.

A few drops of oil on the blade may help the process.

Care for pruning shears by sharpening them regularly.
You may want to wear gloves while sharpening shears, just in case!

To sharpen the cutting blade, hold the sharpening stone or file at an angle approximately the same as the angle of the bevel on the cutting edge.

Hold the stone perpendicular to the beveled cutting edge, move the stone from the thick edge of the blade toward the knife edge.

The file or stone will not be able to cover the entire blade at once, so start near the hinge and repeat this motion down the length of the curved blade, always moving in the same direction.

Make an occasional pass on the flat, back side of the blade to remove small irregularities and insure a fine cutting edge.

Storing Pruning Shears

Always clean your shears before storing and wipe a light coating of oil on the blades. This will help to keep rust from forming, and also, always store the shears out of the weather.

These tips work for any hand cutters and also telescopic shears, which are great for taking off branches on taller trees.

With a little care, the shears will last a lifetime. Invest in a good quality set of garden pruners and then take care of them.

We have had great experience with the Fiskars brand – excellent quality and they aren’t expensive.

 

Gardening Stuff you Want to Know

  • Want to learn about Pruning Shrubs and Fruit Trees?
  • Backyard overgrown? Here’s how you can Restore a Neglected Garden.
  • Got stubborn weeds? Try this all natural Weed Killer recipe – works on even the toughest weeds!
  • Learn more about maintaining garden tools.

 

Remember to sharpen pruning shears regularly to make them last!

 

Sharpening Pruning Shears before using
With this simple guide, you can learn how to sharpen pruning shears and keep them sharp!

 

 

originally published 2020; latest update October 2022

Just click to Share

1.1K shares
  • Share1
  • Tweet

Filed Under: Product Reviews

Connect With Us!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Search this site

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Search in posts
Search in pages

Our Most Popular Posts

Garlic cloves in oil

How to Preserve Garlic in Oil – and Other Ways to Store Garlic

a open jar of pickled brussel sprouts on a counter

Easy Pickled Brussels Sprouts Recipe (Water Bath Canning)

Privacy Policy

Read about our Privacy Policy

Disclosure

Please note that some of this site’s links are affiliate links, and CountryLivinginaCaribooValley.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. At NO ADDITIONAL COST TO YOU, I will earn a small commission, if you purchase them. I recommend them as they are good products.

Theme Design By Studio Mommy · Copyright © 2025