I have had to give in and buy a pair of long handled edging shears, for as long as I can remember I have always knelt down to trim the edges of my lawn but lately I have found that the constant pressure on my knees and back means that I am taking more than my fair share of Ibuprofen which is not a good thing. After scouring the local garden centres and hardware stores I then took a look at the prices on the Internet, Garden suppliers wanted just over £30 for the Wilkinson's Sword edging shears, a seller on eBay was asking just under £30 and good old Amazon was offering the edging shears for just £27.50 – so no contest, the deal on the Amazon website won hands down.
The Wilkinson's Sword edging shears measure thirty nine inches from the tip of the handles to the bottom of the blades, this allows you to cut your lawn edging without being bent over double. I am just 5ft 3 inches and if anything the handles are a little too tall for me, I always grip the barrel of the handle half way down.
The shears have tubular steel handles which makes them lightweight, when you first take a good look at the shears you could think that they were quite weighty to wield but that is just an illusion. The handles have comfortable soft and long hand grips, so they accommodate both large and small hands. The soft grip handles are very comfortable to hold and easy to grip, your hands mould into the grippers and this in turn makes the task far simpler.
The lawn edging shears look a little peculiar, the blades sit side on which means that they will fit snugly into the side of the grass allowing you to trim the edges neatly and precisely. The heat treated carbon steel blades are held together with a good strong rivet and always remember to treat the shears with respect, the blades are far sharper than you would think.
So instead of being on my knees ( on a kneeling pad ) and bent right over the edge of the lawn I can now stand upright and trim the edges of the grass. Using these shears makes life far simpler. Wilkinson's sword offer a ten year guarantee on this product but the shears still need to be looked after. Garden shears of any type need to be well cared for to maintain the sharpness of the blades. Safety is another consideration, we are lucky enough to have a good sized garden shed and the shears hang on a hook but they do need to be stored well out of the way of children.
Both blades have a bevelled edge and close together tightly allowing for a good close cut, of course the drier the grass the better the cut but the shears still manage to make a decent job on damp grass. The blades need to be cleaned after each use and lightly oiled from time to time, just put a spot of either motor oil or sewing machine oil onto a soft cloth and buff them. The long blades make for easy work, you are trimming about ten inches of edging every time you push the blades together. The shears open and close with ease, just make sure that you keep the blade rivet well oiled.
I know that Wilkinson's Sword offer a ten year guarantee but you may find that you want to give the blades a second wind after a couple of years use, we have successfully sharpened shears many times. I have always used a fine file, I have a 10 inch New Mill file that cost me just a fiver from the local hardware store and that sharpens the blades well. Some say an angle grinder does the job better but I disagree, it is far too harsh. I do know that you can buy shear sharpeners which act like knife sharpeners but I have never used this method. Love my shears and the thought of cutting out some of that bending suits me fine.
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