Easily Sharpen Your Garden Shears With A Compact Find From Amazon

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The difference between garden shears, pruners, and secateurs is open to debate, but whatever you call them, they are indispensable tools around the vegetable and flower gardens. Key to their efficient use is keeping them sharp, and the Work Sharp Guided Field Sharpener, available from Amazon, should make the job easy.

Shears are among a number of garden tools you should be sharpening regularly, but it can be challenging to find a single solution that can tackle every job. The Work Sharp offers diamond sharpening plates that work more quickly and are more durable than traditional whetstones, plus a double-sided ceramic honing rod, leather strop, and guides to help you maintain the precise angle for a fine edge. In addition to being an easy way to sharpen your garden shears and other yard tools, Work Sharp claims it will sharpen "every knife you own," even those with serrated blades.

Work Sharp calls it a "field sharpener," which emphasizes its portability. You could rest it on a worktop in the kitchen, a bench in the garage, or shove it in a pack and take it camping or hunting. It currently costs $39.95. It's not the cheapest sharpener on the market, but you might need to buy several different types to match the functionality of this one.

Just how does the Work Sharp offer such versatility?

Most of the time, you'll take a blade to the Work Sharp, but the useful handgrip on one end means you could also use it like a file, taking it to a lawn mower, for example, or to sharpen a dull machete blade. There are five abrasive surfaces in all. The top and side are used for general-purpose sharpening, like garden shears, knives, and even arrowheads. If you need a truly razor-sharp edge, finish up with the honing rod (which, incidentally, has a groove for sharpening fishhooks) and the strop. Honing and stropping do take a little practice, but the results should be worth it.

Well over 12,000 customers give the Work Sharp Guided Field Sharpener an impressive average of 4.8 stars. One, despite being a self-confessed beginner, summed up the feelings of many when he called it "an incredible all-in-one sharpening system." Complaints are extremely rare. A couple of people thought the fine diamond area was still too coarse for their liking. One thought it should be bigger. Then again, you can't please everybody.

Garden shears (or pruners) can do a lot more than tackle your plants. Similarly, the Work Sharp can tackle a lot more than the tools you use around the yard. It's difficult to think of a more compact and comprehensive sharpening solution. It's not perfect, but if you have a wide variety of cutting edges you want to keep in peak condition, then it has to be worth a closer look.

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