Okatsune Shears

Name: Okatsune Shears
Brand: Niwaki
SKU: P00031-1
Price: 155.0 CAD
Availability: InStock

$155.00 CAD

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Size Short Handles 20” Long Handles 30”

Product variants

Quantity

These shears are perfect for topiary, boxwood clipping and other small hedges. I like the well-balanced, smooth cutting action.

All sizes are tough enough to handle the day-to-day gardening action doled out by my crews and the blades are easy to sharpen. Red and white handles are easy to find in the garden. Great all-rounders.

The shorter handles (20" size) allow you to get in close, which I find especially useful for detailed topiary pruning, and are much lighter than many shears. Means less strain on the neck and shoulder muscles.

If you prefer a longer reach, try the 30” size. They're great for trimming the sides of low hedges, a real back-saver when you've got miles of them to trim!

Sharpening - the Okatsune 400 grit sharpening stone is recommended.

Product Details

Izumo Yasugi Steel
Rockwell Hardness of 60.0 - 61.0
Japanese oak handles (Quercus myrsinifolia)
No.1 choice in Japan for gardeners and landscapers

Short Handles 20"

blade length: 5.7" (14.5cm)
handle length: 11.8" (30cm)
total length: 19.7" (50.5cm)

Long Handles 30"

blade length: 7.9" (20cm)
handle length: 19.7" (50cm)
total length: 30.7" (78cm)

Caring for Snips, Shears & Clippers

Similar to how to care for your secateurs, the key to a long life for your shears is to be sure to maintain them well through regular cleaning & sharpening. As well as ensuring you use them the way there intended to be used.

Correct use of your Snips, Shears & Clippers:

Keep them sharp & oiled, sharpen after every use
Japanese steel is hard and sharp, and can be more brittle than people are used to - it will chip if abused.
Do not cut wire, metal, stone, plastic or any other hard material (even bamboo fibres and some very hard woods, especially knots and burrs, can damage steel edges).
Do not twist or apply uneven pressure.
Shears and clippers are to be used on fine green growth only, no woody stems.
Cut diagonally across branches, not horizontally or straight across.
Watch out for maximum cut lengths, shears are not loppers or secateurs.
Use the base of the blades, not the tips, for heavier cuts.

Cleaning & Sharpening:

The first rule of thumb is to keep them clean & sharp... Shears, in particular, like to be sharpened with every use.

Click here for a detailed guide on how to clean and sharpen your Japanese pruning tools.

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