Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Equipment Shed => Topic started by: julietmaria on October 14, 2013, 22:07
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I want to buy something to sharpen my hoe and my shears and my secateurs - I don't know what to buy - what do other use? Is it better to get a file? I read that was a good idea? Would rather spend less than more :)
thanks :)
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I have a little dremmel multi tool. It gives an amazing edge to all my knives, secateurs, hoes etc, and is really fast and easy to use. Mine came with a 40 piece accessory kit which gives it loads of handy uses around the home. I see there are some on eBay that are exactly the same as mine but a different name on the side. Only 19.99. Look up Ferm Rotary combitool.
Totty
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Wetstone, or is that whetstone? Is my choice. Cheap oil to keep it happy.
Paddy
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A whetstone is a good investment especially if you can get one with coarse one side fine the other, mines over50 years old and still plenty of stone left Draper supply them for about £10.00 theres are fine and medium grades jezza
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Thanks to you both, perhaps I will ask for the sharpening tool for Christmas, - and paddy if i bought a whetstone how do I use it? sorry to be so dense - or will there be instructions? do I sharpen both sides and when do you apply the oil. and is vegtable oil ok, or what oil do you get? And why do you apply it. Also I have a couple of really old hoes quite rusty really, do you think they could be sharpened with a whetstone or would I need to get a new one and look after it from the beginning? Perhaps that should be the Christmas pressie :)
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I bought a Swiss Army sharpener from Lakeland a couple of years ago, and I have seen them in Wilko's during the gardening season, but I think they put everything away in December :( It is just a sharpener on a handle and very easy to carry to the plot in your pocket.
I looked online and I can't find one the same as mine but THIS (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cutting-Edge-Draper-Garden-Sharpener-including/dp/9800550879/ref=sr_1_34?s=outdoors&ie=UTF8&qid=1381793695&sr=1-34&keywords=tool+sharpener) is very similar.
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For your hoe, get a cheap file. It is more than enough to keep the blade sharp. for your secateurs, a needle diamond file. Depending on what kind of shears you mean depends on what kind of sharpening tool. Hedge shears use a file, curved shears or hand shears use a small file. Whetstones are great for long grass hooks and the like, but unless you need a razor edge on say a knife or pruning blade, you don't need one for most sharpening Jobs. A Bastar* file, a medium file, and a fine file will do for all your gardening jobs.
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Thanks to you both, perhaps I will ask for the sharpening tool for Winterval, - and paddy if i bought a whetstone how do I use it? sorry to be so dense - or will there be instructions? do I sharpen both sides and when do you apply the oil. and is vegtable oil ok, or what oil do you get? And why do you apply it. Also I have a couple of really old hoes quite rusty really, do you think they could be sharpened with a whetstone or would I need to get a new one and look after it from the beginning? Perhaps that should be the Winterval pressie :)
The stone is abrasive so you can either rub the tool on the stone or rub the stone on tool, depending what works best. So for my Hoe I rub the stone, but for a pen knife its easier to rub the knife on the stone. Basically you are trying to create a gradation from the thick metal to a sharp edge. Its easier when you get started. As regards which side(s), look at the tool you are sharpening. A hoe would typically only be sharpened from one side with a flat bottom. Knifes usually both sides etc.
The oil acts asa lubricant, but I think it also collects the bits into a kind of paste which helps grind. It will also keep the sharpened edge from rusting.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpening_stone
Paddy
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for penknives I use a small diamond stone, for most other things I have a whetstone, or I use my 4 1/2" grinder to reshape an edge onto a blade prior to using a stone. you can get diamond stones in a round rod type configuration which can be useful.
Grendel