Secateurs are one of the most useful garden tools. Keeping them sharp reduces effort in cutting and causes less damage to plants. Use a hand held Bahco sharpening tool. You’ll find these at your local Mitre 10. Open up the secateurs and take a look at the blade, the angle on the cutting edge is a called the bevel and that’s the angle to place the sharpening tool. Run the tool along the blade from base to tip, maintaining the bevel angle. Repeat 3 to 4 times or until the new fresh edge can be seen. Then turn over the blade and run the sharpening tool across the back to remove any metal burrs from the edge. Now that’s nice and sharp. If you look after them, a good brand of snips like Fiskars will last a lifetime. Another valuable garden tool is the sprayer. Again, these will last for years if you look after them. The most important thing to do after spraying is to wash out any residue 2 or 3 times. Turn the sprayer upside down and let it dry. Then store away. Mitre 10 have made you a shopping list of what you’ll need!
