Cleaning & Sharpening Kits

Name: Cleaning & Sharpening Kits
Brand: Gardener's Kit
SKU: GK001
Price: 80.0 CAD
Availability: InStock

$80.00 CAD

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Size Niwaki Cleaning Kit Okatsune Cleaning Kit Tobisho Cleaning Kit

Product variants

Quantity

Here’s all the basic gear you need to keep your secateurs, snips and shears in good working order in one handy kit.

We offer 3 different Cleaning & Sharpening Kits and recommend a different one depending on the type of tools you will be sharpening.

Each Kit contains four items: a whetstone, an abrasive cleaning block (or rust eraser), camellia oil and a wicking oil dispenser. You save when you buy all four items together, but you can purchase any of the items in the kits individually.

We recommend that you clean, sharpen, oil - in that order.

For more detailed cleaning and sharpening instructions, and which gear to use for what, click here.

1. Okatsune Kit (also recommended for Felco users):

Okatsune sharpening stone, 400 grit
Abrasive Cleaning Block, 120 grit
Camellia Oil, 100 ml bottle
Oil Dispenser, wicking system

2. Niwaki Kit

Niwaki sharpening stone, #1000 grit
Crean Mate rust & sap eraser (mini size)
Camellia Oil, 100 ml bottle
Oil Dispenser, wicking system

3. Tobisho Kit

Niwaki sharpening stone, #1000 grit
Crean Mate rust & sap eraser (mini size)
Camellia Oil, 100 ml bottle
Oil Dispenser, wicking system

Cleaning & Sharpening your Japanese Pruning Tools

Click here to download The Gardener's Kit Guide to Cleaning & Sharpening your Japanese Pruning Tools

We recommend that you clean, sharpen, oil - in that order and be sure to sharpen before the blades get blunt.

How Often?
It's a common question - how often should I sharpen my cutting tools? Short answer is, it depends on how frequently you use your tools.
Here are recommendations based on frequent use; you can judge from there if you don't use your tools often.

Secateurs: every couple of weeks if you use them daily. Click here to watch the experts at Okatsune sharpen secateurs.
Shears: daily, or even throughout the day, when you’re using them intensively. Especially if clipping boxwood. Click here to watch Jake demonstrate how to sharpen the Niwaki shears
Saws: clean and dry saws after every use. Impulse hardened blades do not need to be sharpened. Click here for our Guide to Saw Care

How To?

Wipe off soil and mud (you should get in the habit of doing this and then drying your tools at the end of each workday).
Clean built-up gunk and rust off the blades with the Abrasive Cleaning Block or Crean Mate rust eraser.
Do a detailed sharpening with a whetstone or two - see below for 'Which Grit' to use. Soak your sharpening stone in water for a couple of minutes before using. Unless you are very handy, don’t take your secateurs and shears apart – it’s very difficult to get the double-locking bolt back together and the blades properly aligned.
You can sharpen on-the-go with the Swiss Istor carbon steel sharpener, but a light touch is required - you don't want to grind off too much steel.
Use the Twin Diamond File or the Niwaki grey #220 grit sharpening stone to restore damaged blades.
Apply Camellia Oil to lubricate and protect blades after cleaning. You're done!

If you don’t like sharpening yourself, or don’t have time for it, use our in-house sharpening service.

Which Grit?
The appropriate whetstone grit depends on the type of steel, how long it's been between sharpening sessions, and whether there’s been any significant damage to the blades.
We recommend using the manufacturer's recommendation for the tools that we sell.

Okatsune #400 grit - for regular sharpening of all Okatsune products; also good for Felco
Niwaki #220 grit (grey) - this is a coarse stone, use for rough/damaged blades
Niwaki #1000 grit (brown) - for regular sharpening of all Niwaki, Tobisho, Kurumi blades.
Niwaki #3000 grit (sand) - this is a fine polishing stone, use for detailed work on high quality steel

Click here for the full collection of Japanese Tool Care products