Shear is the difference when one holds their pocket knife and cuts into a piece of pine or oak. With the oak, the blade is at a more angular attack. With pine the blade is at a much sharper angle and quite minimal. With the softwood, your knife will plunge deeper into the cut. With hardwood, it is more difficult to make a deep plunge.

Now that you have an understanding of the general principal of a single blade cutting tool, they all work the same excepting of course some have multiple blades.

CLICK TO ENLARGE Shear's hinge rivet needs proper play for free movement

I located this sketch I did years ago for my students. It shows a typical scissor and a concave cutter in plan and profile views. Please note high quality bonsai tools are made from high carbon tool steels. This means they are brittle. Yes, they will break rather than bend. The Stainless versions are nearly as hard with new alloys of 505 and 502.

When beginning to sharpen your tools you’ll need:

1. Fine-grain whet stone (Arkansas type is best) approximately 1" x ¼" x 3"
   [ 25mm x 6mm x 75mm]
2. Small saucer of water
3. Flat, smooth surface

I make certain the tool stays stationary and then pass the stone over the blades.

CLICK TO ENLARGE Keep the angle  approximately 10~15 degrees

You will note the fine "land" that is created by the stone along the edge of the primary cutting surface. This is not unsimilar to the ‘land’ on your excellent quality folding knife.

Keep the stone wet with water and carefully keep the angle on the blade approximately 10~15 degrees. This is critical and should be held firm.

After sharpening both blades, it’s best to lap or strop them on a piece of leather to remove the fine burr that is produced along the edge.

I usually use some WD-40 or similar lightweight oil to protect them from rust.

NEXT: Sharpening Concave Type Cutters