Smoke
Ignore-Amus
I love tools. In fact between my professional career and my hobbies, I am a tool freak. Woodworking tools for my profession as well as my stand building, and my tools I use for bonsai. I love to spend good money on good Japanese tools for bonsai but do not like spending huge amounts of money on tools that will do the same job for less.
I have had some good Japanese spring pruners and spent as much as 125.00 for a good pair. Most of them do not do as good a job as My trusty Corona's. These are the pruners you can buy anywhere. A good nursery, big box stores, etc. They usually come with orange dipped handles and have rather blunt tips rounded over.
I take them and customize them for my use. The spring return is good and that is really important for me. The steel is good as they have been around as a company for over 75 years. I take them and remove the orange handles. They just slip off with some effort. I use a belt sander with a medium belt and sand the tip to a point. This does not hurt the pruner as I am sanding the outside of the blades not the cutting sides. I sand up the handles and get rid of mold seams and just make um pretty. I polish them with a wire brush in the grinder till they are as smooth as I can get them.
At this point they look pretty sick all bright and shiny. They need something to make them look Japanese and fit in with the rest of my tools.
At the gun shop I buy a bottle of "cold Blue", this is used for touching up gun barrels. It can be bought at Walmart. It is a product that will change the molecular structure of the steel and turn it black. Sort of like the oxidation on good silver or the green on copper. It is applied with a brush to the steel and it will turn black right before your eyes. Wear gloves as it contains selenium dioxide, which will cause cancer on prolonged contact. After blueing just rub in a good gun oil and wipe clean. Tool already for another year.
I do this cold blueing on all my tools, since even good Japanese tools will turn silver on the wear edges.
Cheers, Al
EDIT: BTW, this is my third set of Corona's!
I have had some good Japanese spring pruners and spent as much as 125.00 for a good pair. Most of them do not do as good a job as My trusty Corona's. These are the pruners you can buy anywhere. A good nursery, big box stores, etc. They usually come with orange dipped handles and have rather blunt tips rounded over.
I take them and customize them for my use. The spring return is good and that is really important for me. The steel is good as they have been around as a company for over 75 years. I take them and remove the orange handles. They just slip off with some effort. I use a belt sander with a medium belt and sand the tip to a point. This does not hurt the pruner as I am sanding the outside of the blades not the cutting sides. I sand up the handles and get rid of mold seams and just make um pretty. I polish them with a wire brush in the grinder till they are as smooth as I can get them.
At this point they look pretty sick all bright and shiny. They need something to make them look Japanese and fit in with the rest of my tools.
At the gun shop I buy a bottle of "cold Blue", this is used for touching up gun barrels. It can be bought at Walmart. It is a product that will change the molecular structure of the steel and turn it black. Sort of like the oxidation on good silver or the green on copper. It is applied with a brush to the steel and it will turn black right before your eyes. Wear gloves as it contains selenium dioxide, which will cause cancer on prolonged contact. After blueing just rub in a good gun oil and wipe clean. Tool already for another year.
I do this cold blueing on all my tools, since even good Japanese tools will turn silver on the wear edges.
Cheers, Al
EDIT: BTW, this is my third set of Corona's!
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