How to Sharpen Hedge Trimmer Blades


If you’re a real stickler for a well pruned hedge chances are you find yourself in the garden regularly trimming yours. No matter what hedge trimmer you use, a budget electric or high end petrol model, there’s no getting away from the fact that hedge trimmer blades need sharpening once in a whole to keep them cutting effectively. Naturally the more you trim, the more frequently you’ll need to sharpen too.

You’ve got two choices when it comes to sharpening hedge trimmer blades, you can either do it yourself, or pay a professional to do it for you. If you’re not at all comfortable doing it yourself we’d stick to handing it over to someone that knows what they’re doing, however if you do have the confidence and inclination it’s an easy way to save a few pennies.

Tools Required

  • Flat File
  • Sharpening Stone

Step 1 – Use the file to sharpen the blades

Ensure that the upper and lower blades are perfectly aligned when the trimmer is switched of and use the file to sharpen in a downward direction (towards the sharp edge). To ensure the trimmer will continue to perform as expected it’s worthwhile checking the manufacturers instructions to make sure the angle you file the blade is as per their specifications. Once you’ve finished filing one blade tooth, turn the trimmer over to file down the opposing blade tooth. You’ll know the blade is properly sharpened when the apex where the two blades meet is razor sharp

Step 2 – Use The Sharpening Stone

The primary purpose of this tool is to remove or ‘deburr’ kinked metal from  the underside faces of the blades. If the mating face between the blades is not perfectly smooth this can have a detrimental effect on the mechanism and reduce the effectiveness of the trimmer

Step 3 – Rinse and Repeat!

Unfortunately carrying out this process on all the blades of the trimmer is likely to be a time consuming process! None the less once you finish sharpening and tidying up the blades, don’t forget to clean any stray filings off or else you could any up damaging the blade again when you power up. Finally be sure to give the blades a good spray with machine oil to help prevent them from rusting or seizing.

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