Yes, you did read that correctly – I use an eraser to help keep my secateurs clean. OK, this isn’t something I fished out from the bottom of my school pencil case – this eraser, by garden tools specialist Niwaki, has been created specifically to clean garden tools and it works a treat as I will quickly demonstrate.

Keeping your secateurs and other cutting tools clean is very important for many reasons but let’s be honest it is also a bit of a faff – especially when you are knee deep in the borders.  So I came across this lovely little rust and sap remover for your secateurs which looks like and feels like your old school eraser and you use it in exactly the same way.

This is a spare pair of secateurs I needed to use and so quickly get cleaned up
And here are the same secateurs under 10 minutes later and now ready for action

A great little bit of kit to add to your gardening tools.

If you want to get your own, then head on over to the Niwaki website: