How to Clean Secateurs

You should keep your secateurs clean with regular maintenance. The quickest way to clean your secateurs is to:

1. Use warm water and dishwashing liquid to clean your secateurs.
2. Use white vinegar to remove any rust on your pruners.
3. Get rid of dirt and other substances with a wire brush or steel wool.
4. Take the secateurs apart to clean.
5. Rinse the secateurs with clean water.
6. Use a towel or cloth to dry the pruners.

How to Clean Secateurs: Keeping Pruners Neat and Razor-Sharp

Have some pruning to do? If so, things won’t go as they should unless you’ve kept the equipment clean and razor-sharp. Are you wondering if there is a difference between secateurs and pruners? No, there’s not. These are the same gardening instrument.

If you want excellent pruning results, you’ve got to have clean and sharp secateurs (pruners). You must keep your secateurs not only clean and sharp but lubricated too. Doing this is easy if you know how.

Tools and Materials for Cleaning and Sharpening Your Secateurs

There are specific materials and tools you need to sharpen and clean your pruners. These include:

• Cloths (make sure they’re clean)
• A small brush
• Soapy, warm water
• A whetstone, honing, mill bastard file, or rattail
• Fine to medium sandpaper
• Steel wool
• Lubricating spray or wool
• Wrench
• Screwdriver
• Cleaning solvent may also be necessary

ARS Blade Cleaner is an excellent choice for cleaning your pruners. If you’re looking for a sharpening stone, check out Anniefr Dual Grit Multi-Purpose Axe Sharpening & Hatchet Sharpening Stone Grind Tool. You can use this for sharpening your secateurs.

Get Your Pruners Ready for Cleaning

You must take the secateurs apart to clean them. Follow these steps:

1. Separate the pruner blades. Be careful when doing this. Find the screws or bolt that keeps them together. Different pruners have different processes.
2. Once you’ve taken out the screw or nut attaching the blades, it should be easy for the spring coil within the handles to come off.
3. Put all the pieces of your pruner on a towel, and stay aware of the different parts. If you don’t want to use a towel, put them in a bucket.

Clean the Pruners

Use soapy, warm water and a stiff brush to clean the secateurs.

The brush should be old, so you’re not worried about dirtying it. Many gardeners use an old toothbrush for this purpose. Be mindful of getting rid of dirt trapped in any crevices of the tool.

Once you’ve finished cleaning your pruners, use a dry cloth to dry them.

How to Get Rid of Stains and Stubborn Dirt

Use sandpaper or steel wool to eliminate any stubborn rust, soil, or plant sap you may see on the secateurs. If necessary, use a cleaning solvent. This will help get rid of any plant sap that may have hardened on the equipment.

Cleaning Your Pruners: Step-by-Step

Here are the steps you should follow when cleaning your pruners. You should keep your secateurs clean with regular cleaning.

1. Use warm water and dishwashing liquid to clean your secateurs. You can mix the water and dishwashing liquid in a bucket.
2. Use white vinegar to remove any rust on your pruners. If necessary, you can let them soak in vinegar overnight.
3. Get rid of dirt and other substances with a wire brush or steel wool.
4. Take the secateurs apart to clean. This will let you reach every part.
5. Rinse the secateurs with clean water.
6. Use a towel or cloth to dry the pruners. You need to keep them dry to stop rust from forming.

How to Sharpen Your Secateurs

Be careful when sharpening your pruners. It’s essential to do this job, though, or your pruners won’t work as they should. Practice makes perfect when sharpening your pruners. To begin the process, identify the angled or beveled edge.

Anvil-type pruners that have one blade that descends on a flat surface usually have beveling on both sides. This is similar to a knife. If these are the kinds of pruners you have, you should sharpen both edges of the blade.

If you have by-pass pruners instead, they have just a single beveled edge. This edge slides over the pruners’ solid half on the bottom.

When doing the sharpening, use a sharpening stone or file and make it parallel to the pruner blade on the side where there is beveling. Put some pressure on the blade’s outer edge, and then move the file in one direction around the blade. Keep the blade moving away from you.

Clean Your Pruners Regularly

You should clean your secateurs a bare minimum of once each year. It’s better to do it more often. Use the information we’ve provided here to keep your secateurs clean and well-maintained. Have any questions? Make sure to comment below.