Corona Clipper Sharpening Tool AC8300

No longer a question, sharpen with Corona’s Sharpening Tool

To prune or not to prune, that is the question, or the pruner’s the thing, or off with his twig. Take your pick. Gardeners tend to get silly about their hand pruners, especially a good bypass pruner. The moment gardeners hit their landscapes they can be compared to successful detectives, rarely caught without their pruners or holsters. Roses need to be cut back, deadheading is never-ending, and dead branches must be removed. These are necessary tasks keep gardens healthy and productive. Sharp-edged tools provide the best cuts and help keep plants healthy.

We (as a group) tend to be foolish about tool maintenance. A few dedicated tool tenders clean their tools after every use. Most of these gardeners grow lots of roses and they’ve learned the hard way the value of cleaning their pruners. Many excellent gardeners are almost married to their pruners but neglect the nurturing and care of quality pruners. 

When was the last time you actually cleaned and sharpened your bypass pruner? 

Prior to buying the Corona Clipper Sharpening Tool if  I needed to sharpen the pruner I’d ask my significant other. My doing this always meant entering his domain—the shop—and that required getting permission and presenting the password phrase. (The magic phrase is I promise to return it to where I found it.)

About the Sharpening Tool 

The Corona Sharpening Tool is a simple little device easily carried in a pocket, slipped into the pruner’s holster, or stuck in your gardening bucket. It’s barely 5” long and contained in a soft red vinyl non-slip grip cover with a removable cap. The tool has a 3/4" carbide file appropriate for all blades. Use instruction is on the original packing but if lost can be retrieved online at Corona Tools.

Recommendations: 

• Use this sharpening tool for all of your pruning tools. 
• Maintain the same factory bevel or angle of the cutting edge when sharpening 
• File the bevel edge from the pivot toward the tip four or five times and check the edge 
• File the flat side of the blade once, with the file against the blade to remove burrs caused by sharpening 

Sharpening bypass pruners can be more difficult and caution needs to be used, but the non-slip grip handle is a safety feature. 

Problems? 

I can name only one. I keep forgetting to thread a cord through the hole in the end. A cord would allow me to carry this around my neck and not in my pocket. Like many women, I’m unaccustomed to carrying items in my pockets. At the end of a long, hot and tiring gardening day, I feel a tad forgetful. This sharpener has survived two free rides in the laundry amusement park with a close call a third trip. 

This valuable, inexpensive Corona Sharpening Tool accompanies me on all of my pruning and deadheading trips. If my blade isn’t overly dirty, but seems dull I’ll pull out my sharpener for a few quick passes. My tool maintenance habits are improving. My pruner and sharpener relationship now makes it to the end of the season and my tools are ready for an early spring. 

My Thoughts: This easy-to-use sharpening tool is simple and convenient and has encouraged improved tool maintenance habits. My pruners are no longer just a one season fling, we can now look forward to a longer, more rewarding relationship. 

Plus: Simple, convenient, easy-to-use for routine upkeep
Minus: Easy to misplace (but it survives washing machines)