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Stay Sharp Rust Date: 11/24/2013 2:40:00 PM Rusty Hedge Shears. This pair of shears came in and sparked a blog entry. Many times we see things like this come in and get excited about the challenge. They were forgotten and left out during the rains we had a few weeks ago. What most would see as a piece of junk, the owner thought they could be salvaged. He was right in his way of thinking. Items like this are easier to bring back to life than most people would imagine. As the first step in any sharpening job we do, we needed to clean them. This time there was more rust than pitch to clean, but the process is basically the same. Wire brush and a little effort., and we found a very good set of shears, with little damage. Most of the rust was surface, and although it did start eating into the blades, it was not bad enough to harm the integrity of the metal. First I disassembled the shears and brushed all the surface rust off them. Next came the inspection, looking more at the cutting edges than the flat sides of the blade. Seeing there were no cracks in the material, and the edges were in very good condition, just a little nicked up from normal use. It was time to get to reconditioning the tool. I used a belt grinder to flatten the insides of the blades so the cutting edge would pass freely over them. Keep in mind the flat part of the blade does not do the cutting just the leading edge does, so as long as it is flat and the edge can slide over it freely the shears will preform the way it was intended. After getting the flat sides cleaned up then I was on to the actual sharpening. The edges did have to be ground flat to remove the nicks along the beveled edge. Then the bevel needed to be reconstructed to create the crisp edge needed for cutting. The next step was to lightly oil the metal to help keep it from rusting again. Then it was on to reassembling the shears. After the final adjusting, and a trial cut or two, the shears were once again ready for next years season. If you look closely you will see that the flat inside of the blade still has a few pits from the rust. Again this will not effect the cutting properties of the blades, as long as the cutting edges pass along this surface without binding. The actual cutting is done along the very edge of the blades, so this area must be free of defects. We take off the least amount of material on everything we do, to help extend the life of the tool. We also clean everything that comes to us before we sharpen it. This not only helps in maintaining the tool, but gives us the opportunity to thoroughly inspect the item for defects that could cause a dangerous situation for our customers. To find out what this customer saved on having this done verses replacement, check out our price list on the zosharp website. Look at the hedge shears and compare that price to the cost of a new one. As always cleaning and inspection are part of the prices we have listed.