How to Sharpen Garden Tools: Secateurs, Loppers, Shears and Spades

You can sharpen most garden tools at home with a fine stone or diamond tool for pruners, and a mill file for shears, spades and hoes. Clean the blade first. Keep the existing bevel angle. Sharpen only the angled side of a bypass blade. Remove the burr, then oil the metal. Early winter, once the main growing season has finished, is a sensible time to do the whole kit in one afternoon.

This guide goes through each type of tool in turn, with the angles, stroke counts and safety points that the RHS and university extension services recommend.

TL;DR

• Clean and dry every blade before you sharpen it. Grit and sap blunt a stone and hide the edge you are trying to follow.
• On bypass secateurs and loppers, sharpen only the angled outer face, never the flat side. Then remove the burr with one light flat pass.
• Spades and hoes suit a 10-inch mill file, worked on the forward stroke only, with the tool clamped in a vice and safety glasses on.
• Remove rust with a wire brush or steel wool, then wipe a thin film of oil over the metal and into the pivot.
• Shears that do not come apart, or are very blunt, are often best left to a professional sharpener.

Table of Contents

• 1. Why a sharp edge matters
• 2. What you need before you start
• 3. Safety first
• 4. Clean the tool first
• 5. Removing rust
• 6. Sharpening secateurs and pruning shears
• 7. Sharpening loppers
• 8. Sharpening hedge shears and clippers
• 9. Sharpening spades, shovels and hoes
• 10. Oiling and storing tools
• 11. How often to sharpen
• 12. Choosing a trowel that stays in shape
• What we think
• Stock up for the new season
• FAQ
• Sources

1. Why a sharp edge matters

Sharp blades make the job easier. They also look after your plants. BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine explains that clean, sharp, well-oiled pruning tools work better, last longer and are safer to use. A sharp blade also leaves a tidy wound that should heal fully and lessen the risk of disease.

A blunt blade crushes stems and slips off thick ones. That is when hands get cut. A keen edge needs less force, so your wrists tire less and you stay in control.

Maintenance is also cheaper than replacement. A tool that is cleaned, sharpened and oiled once a year will usually outlast one that is left in a damp shed. If you are still building your kit, our guide to garden tools every UK beginner needs covers what to buy and how to look after it.

2. What you need before you start

You do not need a workshop. A small kit covers nearly every blade in the garden:

The BBC’s gardening guide suggests a fine sharpening stone from a garden centre or hardware store, prepared with a few drops of general-purpose lubricating oil.

3. Safety first

Sharpening is low-risk when you set up properly. Extension services give consistent advice:

• Always wear safety glasses and leather gloves, and clamp the tool in a vice so both hands are free, as Wisconsin Horticulture recommends.
• Face the sharp edge away from you. Wisconsin notes that sharpening into the edge gives a keener result but raises the risk of cutting yourself, so stroke down the slope across the cutting edge.
• Never use a file with an exposed tang, the bare spike where a handle should be. Oregon State University warns that severe injury can result.
• Work slowly in good light, and put a hand guard on any tool you are not holding.

4. Clean the tool first

A clean blade lets you see the bevel, the angled face you are about to sharpen.

For spades, forks, hoes, rakes and trowels, the RHS cleaning advice is to scrub soil off the blade and shaft with a stiff brush. Very muddy tools may need a hose wash, then a dry with an old towel.

For cutting tools, dried-on sap is the usual culprit. The RHS suggests a nylon pan scourer or wire wool, with a penetrating oil and water-displacing spray such as WD-40 to loosen the grime. Wipe the remaining spray off with a clean cloth.

Clean tools also help prevent disease spreading between plants, a point Alan Titchmarsh makes in the Gardeners’ World guide to secateurs.

5. Removing rust

Surface rust is common on tools left out over the autumn, and it does not mean the tool is finished.

1. Brush off loose rust with a wire brush. The BBC guide recommends this, followed by a wipe with an oily rag.
2. For heavier patches, Wisconsin Horticulture suggests coarse-grade steel wool or lump pumice.
3. Dry the tool thoroughly.
4. Apply oil, WD-40, silicone spray or another rust inhibitor to all metal surfaces.

Do the de-rusting before you sharpen. Rust on the bevel gives a false edge that will soon crumble away.

6. Sharpening secateurs and pruning shears

Most garden secateurs are the bypass type: two blades that pass each other like scissors. Only one of them, the upper cutting blade, has a bevel.

1. Open the secateurs fully and hold them steady, or clamp them.
2. Find the bevel. The Family Handyman guide advises you to let the factory edge guide the angle and bevel.
3. Put a drop of oil on a fine stone or diamond tool. If you are using a file or stone freehand, hold it at the existing angle. Oregon State University gives a 20° to 25° angle as the target for hand cutting tools.
4. Run the stone along the bevel, away from you, with even pressure from the base of the blade to the tip. The RHS says to hold the blade steady and move the tool away from you with even pressure.
5. Keep your strokes in one direction. Do not saw back and forth. A handful of smooth passes does more than lots of scrubbing.
6. Check the edge. When it feels evenly bright and keen along its whole length, stop.

Remove the burr

Sharpening raises a thin lip of metal, called a burr, on the opposite side of the blade. The Family Handyman guide notes that if you leave it, it can interfere with the movement of the tool and catch on whatever you are cutting.

The RHS says never to sharpen the flat side, as that spoils the cutting bite. Instead, run the diamond sharpener flat across the back until it feels smooth to the touch.

Anvil secateurs

Anvil secateurs have one blade that closes onto a flat surface. They need a different approach: sharpen the blade’s bevel only, and do not touch the anvil. If you are unsure which type you have, look at whether the blades cross each other (bypass) or meet head on (anvil).

7. Sharpening loppers

Loppers are essentially long-handled secateurs, and nearly all garden loppers are bypass. The same rule applies: sharpen only the angled cutting face of the blade, and leave the flat inner face and the lower blade alone.

The Oregon State guide says only one blade, on one side, needs attention. It also offers a handy check on adjustment. If you see shiny metal at the base of the anvil blade, the cutting blade is slicing too tightly against it, and the pivot needs adjusting.

Loppers cut thicker, tougher stems, so the edge picks up small nicks. Work a file or the coarse face of your stone over each nick until it sits level with the rest of the edge, then finish with a finer stone. Always follow the original bevel, and use the same single direction of stroke as on secateurs. Take off the burr last.

If your loppers have been used on dead or very hard wood, give the pivot bolt a check once you have finished. A blade that wobbles will not stay sharp for long.

8. Sharpening hedge shears and clippers

Hedge shears differ from secateurs because both blades are bevelled. That means you sharpen both, working the outer edge of each in turn.

1. Separate the blades if they come apart. If not, clamp the shears open and work on each blade in turn.
2. Clean off sap and rust as above.
3. Identify the bevel on each blade and follow it. Do not assume it matches the secateur angle. Shear bevels are often steeper, so follow what is already there, as the Family Handyman guide advises.
4. Use a flat mill file for long blades, pushing it away from you along the edge in one direction. Short passes of 10 to 15 strokes per bevel are a common starting point in home guides, but stop sooner if the edge is already keen.
5. Take off any burr with a single light pass of a fine stone on the flat side.
6. Close the blades and test on a sheet of paper or a soft green stem.

The RHS adds two useful points. Some shears come with a sharpener designed for that brand. Where the blades do not come apart, or the shears are very blunt, professional sharpening is usually the best option. Many local sharpening services will do hedge shears for a few pounds, and it is worth that for a badly damaged pair.

Sharpening shears without a sharpener

If you have no dedicated sharpener, a hardware-store mill file does the job on shears. Clamp the tool, file one way along the bevel, and you will get a good working edge. Avoid improvised tricks such as cutting foil or sandpaper, which tend to dull the edge rather than set it. For electric or petrol hedge trimmers, check the manufacturer’s instructions first, and disconnect the power or remove the spark plug lead before touching the blades.

9. Sharpening spades, shovels and hoes

Digging tools do not need a razor edge, but a clean, bevelled edge slices through soil and roots with much less effort.

1. Scrub off soil and rust and let the tool dry.
2. Clamp it in a vice with the edge accessible.
3. Use a 10-inch mill file. As Wisconsin Horticulture explains, mill files cut only on the forward stroke, so lift off or ease the pressure on the way back.
4. Keep every stroke parallel to the blade and along its full length, with even pressure from tip to base, only on the forward stroke, as Oregon State describes.
5. Follow the existing bevel, which is usually on the upper face of a spade and on the inner face of a draw hoe.

In very stony or heavy soils, the BBC notes that the process for spades and hoes may need repeating during the season.

10. Oiling and storing tools

Oiling is the step that keeps your hard work from rusting away by spring. According to the RHS, after cleaning cutting tools you should:

• tighten any loose working parts;
• drop some oil into the central pivot, then open and close the tool to work it in;
• store the tools somewhere clean and dry.

Gardeners’ World adds that oiling the spring and revolving shaft keeps moving parts smooth, and a cloth wiped over the blades repels water and helps avoid rust.

For storage, hang hoes with the blade uppermost, ideally from a wall hook, as the BBC suggests. Keep everything off a damp floor. Over winter, clean, dry, sharpen and oil blades and the wooden handles, then keep them in a dry, frost-free shed or garage.

A wipe-down after each use takes under a minute and halves the work at the end of the season. The same habit applies to other things outdoors: our guides on garden furniture care by material and barbecue cleaning follow the same clean, dry, protect pattern.

11. How often to sharpen

There is no fixed timetable, because it depends on how much you cut. A rough guide:

Alan Titchmarsh recommends oiling and sharpening secateurs every few weeks so they are always safe and easy to use. For the other tools, the table is a practical starting point rather than a rule. Let the cut tell you: if you are pushing harder or stems look chewed, it is time.

12. Choosing a trowel that stays in shape

A trowel does hard work, and one that bends in stony ground is no use however sharp it is. According to Bob Vila’s trowel review, blades are made of stainless steel, carbon steel or aluminium. Stainless steel is strong and more resistant to bending, breaking and rusting, while carbon steel is among the strongest materials.

In practice that gives you a simple choice. Stainless steel needs less rust care. Carbon steel is tough but wants a wipe and a drop of oil after use, as the steps above describe. Whichever you choose, a comfortable handle matters as much as the blade, because you will be gripping it for long spells.

While you are at ground level, a padded kneeler saves your knees on long weeding sessions. Look for thick, water-resistant foam and a size that fits your beds.

What we think

Most of the garden tools we see customers asking about are not worn out. They are just dirty, dry and dull. A morning with a brush, a stone and a tin of oil gives them years more use.

We would rather you buy fewer, better tools and look after them. Start with the basics, keep them clean and oiled, and add to the collection as your garden grows. Outdoor living works the same way: a little regular care keeps furniture, planters and heaters looking good season after season.

And if a tool really is beyond saving, replace it with one that suits the job, because a good tool in a dry shed is a pleasure to use.

Peter

Stock up for the new season

Once your tools are sharp and stored, the rest of the garden deserves the same attention. At Great Gardens Online you will find gardening supplies for the beds and borders, plus pots, planters and outdoor furniture for the rest of the space. We offer free delivery on orders over £70, easy returns within 14 days and next-day delivery options.

If you are planning ahead for spring, our outdoor pots and planters are a good place to start.

FAQ

Can I sharpen secateurs at home without special equipment?

Yes. A fine whetstone, diamond tool or sharpening steel is enough, and the RHS lists all three for secateurs. Sharpen only the angled face of a bypass blade, working away from you. Remove the burr from the flat side with one light flat pass.

What is the best way to clean rusty garden tools?

Brush off loose rust with a wire brush, or use coarse steel wool or pumice on heavier patches. Dry the tool fully, then wipe on a thin film of oil or a rust inhibitor such as WD-40. Do this before you sharpen.

What oil should I use on garden tools?

The RHS and BBC both refer to general-purpose oil for protecting blades, with a drop in the pivot of cutting tools. Wisconsin Horticulture also lists WD-40, silicone spray or another rust inhibitor on clean, dry metal. Wipe away the excess so it does not collect dirt.

How can I sharpen hedge clippers?

Sharpen both blades along their existing bevel, using a flat mill file or whetstone and pushing away from you. Remove any burr afterwards. If the blades do not come apart or are very blunt, the RHS suggests professional sharpening.

Sources

• Sharpening Hand Tools, RHS Advice
• Cleaning Hand Tools: Maintenance Tips, RHS Advice
• How to Sharpen Secateurs, BBC Gardeners’ World
• Caring for tools, BBC Gardening
• Sharpening Garden Tools, Oregon State University Extension
• Maintaining Lawn and Garden Tools, Wisconsin Horticulture
• How To Sharpen Shears, Hedge Trimmers and Other Garden Tools, Family Handyman
• The Best Garden Trowels, Bob Vila

Recommended

• 7 Garden Tools Every UK Beginner Needs and How to Care for Them