Saturday, October 4th was an absolutely beautiful day in the park. The air was crisp, the sun was out, and it was the perfect day for our annual tool-sharpening party.

We pulled every tool out of our orchard shed—loppers, hand pruners, pole pruners—and lined them up on the our huge harvest table. Many of us even brought tools from home. Our mission was simple: clean and sharpen everything so they’re in top shape for the year ahead.

One reason the day went so smoothly was thanks to the Home Depot gift certificate we received from our favourite local realtor, Ben Kafetz. His generous contribution allowed us to stock up on high-quality Corona carbide sharpeners—and that made the work so much easier. Thank you, Ben, for helping us keep our orchard thriving!

Sara led the sharpening team and gave us a quick demo. All of our pruning tools are bypass-style, which means they work like scissors: one blade does the cutting as it slides past a thicker, blunt edge. Only the cutting blade needs sharpening. Sara showed us how to hold the tool pointing slightly toward ourselves and draw the carbide sharpener (or a diamond sharpener) toward us in steady, one-way strokes—never back and forth. After a few confident passes, we flipped the tool over to brush away any tiny metal shavings.

If the tool’s action felt stiff, we reached for a spritz of WD-40 to loosen the joints, followed by a wipe-down with mineral oil. The mineral oil helps clean off residue and leaves a light protective coating to prevent rust.

This year we took tool care one step further. We had a stubborn pole pruner that just wasn’t cutting well. Sarah noticed that the blades weren’t aligned properly. The fix turned out to be simple: tightening or loosening the pivot bolt until the blades lined up again. That discovery changed the game. We realized that many of our older tools could benefit from being taken apart, cleaned, and re-assembled. After a little TLC, they were working like new!

Thanks to Cliff for coming out to help us by bringing his tools from home that we could use to adjust the pivot bolts. Now that we know what we need, on our shopping list is a small adjustable wrench and a specific type of Allen key—basic but essential for tightening the bolts and screws on pruners and loppers. We’ll pick these up with the remaining balance on our Home Depot gift card.

We were thrilled to welcome some new faces. Volunteer Ian brought his mom, Marianne, and she was a fantastic addition to the team! Marianne jumped right in, sharpening our serrated weeding knives and even the spades. She’s also taken on the challenge of rescuing one of our fold-up hand saws that’s lost its grip on the wood. She’s bringing it home to see if she can bring it back to life—fingers crossed!

Another highlight was welcoming a “guest volunteer” from the neighbourhood. Louise dropped by just as we were wrapping up and brought three tools for us to sharpen. One was an anvil-style lopper, which is designed for cutting dead wood. Unlike our bypass pruners, which have one sharp blade that slides past a flat edge like scissors, an anvil lopper has a single sharp blade that comes down onto a flat anvil surface. It was fun to compare the two types of tools and see how their sharpening techniques differ.

It was such a satisfying day—good company, freshly tuned-up tools, and lots of time to laugh, chat and connect.

Our next stewardship day is on Sunday October 19th, and it’ll be our final official gathering for the year. We’ll be tucking the pollinator garden in for the winter—raking leaves, mulching tender plants, and doing any last-minute weeding or deadheading.

Join us that day and stay for our end-of-season potluck at 11 a.m.. If you’d like to come, just send us an email and we’ll help you figure out what dish to bring.

Thanks to everyone who came out to help today. It’s always a joy to spend time together in the park, caring for the orchard that we all love.

Susan Poizner is one of the volunteers for The Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard in Toronto. She is the creator of the fruit tree care education website OrchardPeople.com.  Susan is the author of four fruit tree care books including Grow Fruit Trees Fast: A Beginner’s Guide to a Healthy Harvest in Record Time. She is also the host of the Orchard People podcast and an ISA Certified Arborist.