From light pruning to tackling thick stems, our garden shears work hard all year round. Thankfully, one simple kitchen cupboard staple can help bring tired-looking blades back to life: white vinegar.
After I purchased rusty garden shears for just £4 at a secondhand store, I knew there must be a simple way to bring them back to life. Wondering how it works? Take a look at how I did it with very little elbow grease.
Gather your supplies
I started by gathering everything I needed. Here’s my list:
- Rusty tool(s)
- A large bucket or stockpot
- White vinegar
- Measuring cup
- Steel wool
- 3-in-1 oil
Give your tools a soak
The active ingredient in this process is vinegar. Vinegar contains acetic acid, which dissolves rust and helps loosen it from the metal.
I started by making a 50/50 vinegar-and-water solution in a bucket or pot large enough to hold the shears. (I ended up eyeballing it because I didn’t have enough vinegar to fill half the bucket.) If your tool is very rusty, you can soak it in a stronger vinegar solution for greater effect.
Then I added the shears. Mine weren't terribly rusty, so they only needed to soak for a few hours. Something in worse shape should probably soak for up to 24 hours. Just don’t get too lazy and leave them in the solution for days — too much exposure to acid can etch the metal.
Scrub, rinse and oil
Next, I gave the shears a quick scrub with steel wool. I’m not exaggerating when I say this took less than two minutes. After that, I rinsed them with the hose to remove any remaining vinegar solution, dried them thoroughly, and coated all the metal parts with a good layer of 3-in-1 oil.
Good as new (and ready to prune)
Done. I’m armed and ready for summer trimming.
Secateurs edit
FURNITURE Garden Shears, Lopper and Pruner Set – 3 Piece
Charlyne Mattox is the Food and Crafts director with over 20 years recipe development, recipe editing, and crafting experience. Prior to starting at Country Living in 2014, she worked in the crafts department at Martha Stewart Living and Martha Stewart Kids before attending cooking school at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. She was nominated for a James Beard media award while a senior editor at Real Simple magazine and authored a cookbook Cooking with Seeds.
When not in the kitchen she loves to garden, focusing on growing flowers and kitchen herbs (of course), watering her 25 house plants, and knitting scarfs or hats she will never be able to wear in the always hot and steamy Alabama.
