Every once in a while those pruners that have been hacking away at bushes need a little TLC. Here are five steps to keeping your pruners looking like new:

1) Disassemble
If it looks like it’s easy to take apart and put together your pruners to clean them, you should definitely take them apart. Generally there’s a small screw in the middle. If it doesn’t look easy, just leave them alone. You will be able to clean them still even if it’s not as good.

2) Cleaning
Being as how your pruners have been in the bushes, it’s probably safe to assume they have some gunk on them such as sap. Using mineral spirits and a rag, wipe off the blades and then dry them off again with a new clean rag.

3) Sharpening
After the blades are dry, use a kitchen knife sharpener or whetstone to file them. If you need any kind of support you can put the blade in a vice grip to help you out.

4) Cleaning…again
To prevent rust, spray some WD-40 onto the blades. This will make sure that what you just exposed doesn’t rust.

5) Reassemble
Put the blades back together just the way they were before. Now your pruners are as good as new again!