How to guide to maintain and sharpen secateurs

Here's your quick 'how to guide' to maintaining and sharpening your Japanese secateurs from Niwaki. 

Read on if:

1. You've already invested in a pair and need to now get them clean and sharp so they keep cutting brilliantly
   or
2. You're thinking of buying a pair of Niwaki Japanese secateurs but want to know exactly how you'll look after them to keep them super sharp before you invest...

It’s an easy three step process to clean, sharpen, and protect your secateurs: 

1. Clean your snips or secateurs using Niwaki Crean Mate. This is a scouring block that needs soaking in water for a few minutes before using it. Think of it like a mildly abrasive eraser – you simply rub it all over your secateurs and it will clean up their surface. Ensure you work across all of the cutting area – as most good quality secateurs have a bypass mechanism - where the blade glides past the lower jaw – so you need to clean it all to keep it working well. Remember to keep your fingers away from the edges whilst you rub it over the cutting blades. Just wipe away the reside with a cloth to see the blade coming clean and you’ll soon begin to hear the difference if you test them. If there is any surface rust on the secateur handles you can use the Crean Mate, or if you need something more abrasive you can use some wire wool or a wire brush. And if you need a wire brush, we've got you covered. 
   
2. Sharpen snips or secateurs using a whetstone. Invest in a small whetstone which can be easily used on secateurs rather than using a large one designed for kitchen knives. The Niwaki 1000 grit whetstone is an all-purpose one that suits most people (you can get coarser or finer grit should you need to remove more or get a finer polish).
   Secateurs: find the angle of the secateur blade by resting the whetstone on top in the same direction. Then simply work the stone using small circular motions using the same consistent angle. Work over the entire blade to just put the edge back on. Remember to turn the blade over and lightly run the whetstone over it to remove any burs from the other side.
   Snips: are the same but as they don't have a curve they are more straight forward to sharpen - but you have to do both blades - so it's twice the work, but you don't have to think about the curve. 
   
3. Protect snips or secateurs – Camelia oil is perfect (and the preferred choice in Japan) because it isn’t acidic. You only need a few drops onto a sponge and you simply wipe it over the secateurs. The sponge will hold the camelia oil so keep this in your maintenance kit. It will act as a surface barrier on the carbon steel, offering some protection when you next use them.

How often do you need to clean and sharpen your Japanese secateurs? 
We recommend cleaning and protecting your secateurs as regularly as you can – as this avoids build-up of rust (if you are using high carbon steel tools) and also reduces the risk of transferring any diseases around your garden via your secateurs. Then, as and when needed, you can sharpen them.

But why, exactly, do you need to do this with Japanese secateurs? 
This advice is relevant to all kinds and makes of secateurs and snips (like Felco, which we also sell), but it's particularly relevant and absolutely required if you have invested in good quality secateurs Japanese secateurs (such as Niwaki).

This is becuase they are made from high carbon steel rather than stainless steel. This means they are incredibly sharp and can be re-sharpened, but, as they aren’t stainless steel, they will tarnish from tannins in plant sap and form surface rust relatively easily if they are left in a damp environment. None of this is a problem structurally, but they will cover in surface rust which will affect their ability to cut (and not look great either!). 

If you can get into a Tinker and Fix Maintenance Mindset you’ll have your garden tools for life (if you’ve bought good quality ones to begin with!).  Cleaning them off after each use, before you put them away, makes a big difference and means that your regular maintenance checks become less arduous.