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Garden Snips

£14.00

We all need a good pair of snips, ones that can live in pockets without doing any harm, and wander round the garden with us for those unplanned moments - and these ones are great. Handy to have a couple of pairs really, as they are absolutely brilliant for flowers, fruit and veg, but aren’t nearly as tough as secateurs, obviously, and are for green growth only, not woody pruning. Slender blades get right in for careful snipping.

Keep them clean, with a Crean Mate ideally, or an old washing up sponge if you’re desperate.

Most of our sharp tools are made from carbon steel - this means they will, through regular use, stain (and eventually rust) and gradually lose their edge. Caring for them involves three things…

  • Japanese steel is hard and sharp, and can be more brittle than some people are used to - it will chip if abused
  • Do not cut wire, metal, stone, plastic or any other hard material (even bamboo fibres and some very hard woods, especially knots and burrs, can damage steel edges)
  • Do not twist or apply uneven pressure
  • Cut diagonally across branches (not straight across) so you cut along the fibres
  • Pay attention to our maximum cut dimensions, and don’t overdo it (shears are not loppers)
  • Use the base of the blades, not the tips, for heavier cuts
  • Remove leaf resin, rust and gunk with a Crean Mate and water
  • Dry, wipe over with Camellia oil and store in a dry place

    Please note: By law, we are not permitted to sell a knife or blade to any person under the age of 18. By placing an order for one of these items you are declaring that you are 18 years of age or over. These items must be used responsibly and appropriately.

    • 91g
    • 183 x 44 x 16mm
    • 50mm blades
    • Max cut Ø3mm
    • SK85 Steel
    • Made in Sanjo, Japan

    1997. Jake goes to Japan as a wannabe sculptor, to investigate the cultural phenomenon of the cherry blossom season, hanami. There he discovers the gardens, and the trees, and vows to learn more.

    Back home in England, he trains as a TEFL teacher, meets Keiko, and drags her back to Japan. Year one is spent teaching, year two working at a traditional plant nursey in a rural part of Osaka, learning all about tree training, pruning and rootballing.

    Back home again, Jake gets work at Architectural Plants in Sussex, where he is shocked to find people using FOUR LEGGED LADDERS (Can you imagine?) Brother-in-law Haruyasu is enrolled to ship over a couple of tripod ladders (still going strong today) which together with the robust secateurs and topiary clippers Jake insists on using, cause quite a stir.

    And so begins the business.

    What everyone starts to appreciate is that although these things are all Japanese, they work just as well in western gardens, and on a whole range of plants. Tripod ladders, it turns out, are just as useful for hedge trimming as they are for pine pruning; and of course topiary clippers work just as well on box topiary as they do on azalea karikomi.

    You don’t need to grow bonsai to enjoy these tools.