Gardener's Question Time (Shears)
 

A long shot I know :)

I want to take the two blades apart on some garden shears to sharpen them on my Tormek grindstone. The blades are held in place by a central locking nut and bolt. In the good ol' days this was done simply by using a spanner. Nowadays the central bolt has a "nut" on one side with slots in that seems to need a special tool to undo it.

It's that tool that I want. You'd think it would be simple but I have tried garden centres (that sell the damn shears), hardware stores, Google etc but drawn a complete blank. I don't recall ever seeing such a tool or buying shears with tool included. Surely it must be reasonable to want to take shears apart for sharpening?

Ideas? d

Is it possible to attatch mole grips to the slotted head bolt thingy? Failing that, could you saw through the bolt or grind it off and replace it with a decent one.


Neil :)

Thanks for that thought. No the strange nut is sort of conical shape with no real area to get a grip on. As for grinding off I didn't mention that these are other people's shears as I offer a local blade sharpening service so I can't do that! Cheers, David

PS. I'll give Wilkinson's a ring on Monday and see what they have to say.

David,

Could you file two flat edges either side of the round nut enough to get a spanner onto.

Chip

Hi Chip :)

An old sheap shearer's trick? :D

Thanks but as I mentioned they are not my shears to abuse! I did manage to use a pair of long-nosed pliers to "hold" the nut in place whilst I tried to unscrew from other end but the bloody thing still wouldn't shift. I have concluded that they are designed like that and they are not intended to come apart. Part of the throw away society I think :mad:

I'll see what Wilkinsons have to say when I call them Monday.

Not me no, maybe Benni could help you on the shearing though.


Chip:)

And on the spelling sheap!!! Can't believe I did that. doh :) :)

stop wasting our time and get the miser to buy some new shears :mad:

:lol1:

I'll excuse you on that as your english:D

Chip

If you have lots of them to do you could make your own tool. Take a plaster of paris mould, take a mould of the mould so you have an identical shape to the bolt, pour chemical liquid metal into the second mould and then stick a screwdriver into the liquid metal before it sets. ( You can use play-doh instead of plaster of paris but you inevitably cock it up trying to make the second mould - fibreglass resin also works and will give you a more accurate tool, but it is way harder to work with than plaster of paris)

Thanks FB. I was thinking along the lines of trying to make up a tool of sorts if I can't get something from a manufacturer.

WWSD. My apologies for taking time out of your busy schedule :) Great business idea of your's though - "Sorry little old lady down the road. I can't sharpen your shears so keep your £4.50 and go and spend £25 on a new pair" :D

Hi David, I have a set of these babies and they come in very handy!

http://loja.najashop.com/loja/images...R%20WRENCH.jpg

They will pretty much grip/undo anything I have come across, rounded nuts, studs, you name it!

Might do the job for you?

Thanks POC - they certainly look the part. Bit more professional than my wobbly cheap mole grips :)

Reminds me of my old dentist :D