We are writing this piece of information to tell you about how to sharpen loppers. This guide is for all of you who have a passion for keeping their garden in the best shape with trimmed trees and cleaned, mowed grass, and much more.
But how are you going to do that?
Passionate garden lovers know how important it is to have a well-equipped tool kit to keep the garden fit and free of dirt. Exercise is needed with a balanced diet to keep the body fit and in shape. Similarly, your lawn also needs this kind of attention. When you are done keeping your lawn fit, the next task is to keep the tools in excellent health. We all know many tools are used in the garden for trimming, cutting, shredding, chipping, and a host of other tasks.
Today we have dedicated ourselves to keeping the loppers in the best workable condition by sharpening them.
Where do you use the loopers in the garden?
The loopers are the pruning tool used to cut and clean the branches, bushes, and other unnecessary parts of the plants and trees to keep their beauty intact.
First Things First
Before knowing how to sharpen loppers, there are few things that you need to do to prepare it for the sharpening stage.
Cleaning
Start by cleaning the lopper’s blade with a stiff brush to remove all the mud or debris from the surface. You can also use a mixture of soap and water to clean the stiff and stubborn thickets of dirt. Water is an option, but a preferred option is chemical sprays made particularly for cleaning purposes.
The dirt and rust on the blade can be one reason for your lopper to loosen the cutting ability. So, cleaning them is an essential process in this process of knowing how to sharpen loppers. After cleaning the gunk off the blade’s surface, you will also know how much sharpening is needed.
Disengage the blade
The next in this guide, which is provided to learn how to sharpen garden loppers, is separating the looper’s blade to prepare it for the cleaning process. On this tool, several parts are joined together at one point with a screw and a bolt. Take off the screw with the help of a screwdriver or a wrench. Make sure you carefully place all the parts in your sight. When you have various blades lying separately, you can sharpen them simultaneously.
The different methods to sharpen the loopers
After you are done cleaning the blade and disengaging all the parts, we enter into the main phase of this guide of how to sharpen lopper blades. You can choose between different for sharpening, but the most common ones are:
- sharpening with a whetstone
- sharpening with the file
How to sharpen loppers with a whetstone?
In this method, you will use a whetstone to sharpen your loopers. A whetstone is a stone made with fine grains that produce friction when the blade is pressed dragged against it for sharpening.
Follow these steps to get the best results out of your sharpening job.
- Apply a few drops of lubricating oil on the whetstone. It will limit the unnecessary friction and heat of the whetstone.
- Place the beveled edge on the whetstone and start putting gentle pressure on the blade and avoiding putting too much pressure, as undue friction may ruin the blade.
- Keep on moving the blade on the whetstone until you see your blade is shining again. This may sometimes and repeated movements.
- The blade should be moved in one direction only. Apply gentle but firm pressure on the blade.
- Now, you should have achieved a sharped blade. For further achieving a razor-like edge of the blade, continue moving against a more delicately grained stone.
- The last step is to test the blade to check if you have achieved your target. A simple test is to hold the blade to a source of light. If you see the light beam is reflecting off the sharp surface, your blade is accurately sharped.
How to sharpen tree loppers with a file?
Another commonly used method to sharpen the loopers is with a file. This method is different because you will keep your looper stationary while the file will be moving over the blunt surface.
The following steps are needed to sharpen a looper with the file.
- Start the process by fixing the blade of the looper in a vice.
- Adjust the blade in a way that the sharp edge is pointing towards you.
- The file is held at a show angle, and position it along the length of your looper’s blade.
- Ensure you only push the file in the forward direction. Scraping it back will harm your blade.
- Put enough pressure to sharpen the blade and beware of over-sharpening as it may weaken and ultimately break your cutting edge.
- Repeat the process on the other blade. But keep in mind that both blades’ cutting-edge alignment is opposite to each other. Ensure that you are putting the file at the opposite angle on the second blade.
The next and final step in this guide of how to sharpen garden loppers is the assembly of the blade back into the tool. You can use the same screwdriver to put it back and secure it with the screw. Now your lopper is good to go back into action.
Related Post:
How to Use a Tiller to Remove Grass
Bottom line
Sharpening your pruning tools such as a looper may seem a simple task at first glance, but there are certain technicalities that you need to consider. The tips and processes mentioned in this article will help you bring back your tool’s sharpness for better performance. Working with blades is a dangerous job, so be careful when you are sharpening your tool. Another quick tip is to keep your tools clean. Clean tools will require less frequent sharpening because rust is one factor that can eat away your looper’s cutting capability.
