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Handheld pruning shears are great for nipping off narrow stems and branches up to ½ inch in diameter, but for pruning thicker branches up to 2 or 3 inches, loppers are often a better fit. Essentially, loppers are the beefed-up version of pruning shears, offering more reach and cutting power. Garden centers and online retailers offer a wide array of loppers, with many of them billed as the best loppers for home landscaping projects.
While some of these tools are excellent, others are just so-so. We tested several loppers from various top manufacturers to find out which ones lived up to their reputations. We certainly put them through their paces&#;snipping, nipping, and pruning the trees and shrubs in the yard.
We also contacted tree care experts to get their opinion on specific aspects shoppers will want to look for before making a purchase. Ahead, find out what to look for when shopping for this landscaping tool and learn about the pros (and cons) we uncovered when testing the following landscaping loppers.
Photo: Glenda Taylorfor Bob VilaWe tested each set of loppers extensively and analyzed the results. We found that the amount of cutting power the tool could generate and whether it was designed to cut deadwood (anvil) or green wood (bypass) were crucial. We scored each lopper on performance, blade sharpness, ease of use, and durability.
We tested each set of loppers on various branch sizes and noted the dimension of the thickest branches we could comfortably cut. While some of the loppers offer ratcheting action, which is a wonderful addition for its sheer cutting power, each lopper has a limit to what it will cut based on both the width of the blades when fully open and the strength of the user. Did their maximum cutting force require superhuman strength? Were the handles comfortable? These were only a few of the things we considered as we tested each lopper.
The loppers were also evaluated for comfort, whether they came with padded or nonslip grips, and whether the arms were ergonomically designed to maximize a user&#;s arm strength. We found that a slight inward curve at the grip section of the handles allowed us to generate more leverage. Safety also factored in, especially with ratcheting loppers that will snap shut on a final pump of the handle.
Testing StatsProducts tested10Hours spent testing5Tests performed5Price range$30 to $280We tested each of the following loppers to determine what type of branches they were best suited for pruning (deadwood or green wood) and to determine how well the handles were designed in relation to the blade assemblies. Find out how each one fared to determine if one is the right pick for your landscaping tool collection.
Photo: amazon.com
See ItOur Ratings: Ergonomics 4/5; Ease of Use 4.5/5; Performance 4.5/5; Durability 4/5; Value 4.3/5
Product Specs
Pros
Cons
The first thing we noticed when the Kings County Tools loppers arrived was their heavy-duty construction. These rugged loppers come with a steel head and forged aluminum arms. When we first spread the handles, the blade snapped to its widest jaw position, and it took four pumps of the handle to close it completely. The ratcheting action generates more cutting pressure with each pump of the handle.
The telescoping handles were effortless to adjust&#;we just depressed the white buttons on the upper handles and slid the extension arms out. The arms have five individual setting lengths about 3 inches apart, so we could lengthen them just a bit or telescope them all the way out to 40 inches to reach high branches. We were able to trim branches that previously required standing on a ladder to reach.
If you need the convenience of a mid-length lopper most of the time but the reach of a longer tool some of the time, these anvil loppers are a worthy pick. We were impressed by the tough blade of carbon-coated steel&#;it didn&#;t dull or nick even with the hardest dry branches. The tool is rated to cut branches up to 2.5 inches thick. We could only cut through a dead branch that was just more than 2 inches in diameter with average pressure, but with extra effort we could cut through one that was nearly 3 inches in diameter.
The Kings County Tools loppers earn the Best Overall spot due to their versatility&#;they can be lengthened quickly; they offer powerful ratcheting cutting force; and they come with ergonomic, nonslip handles.
Get the Kings County Tools loppers at Amazon.
Photo: amazon.com
See ItOur Ratings: Ergonomics 4/5; Ease of Use 4.5/5; Performance 4.3/5; Durability 4/5; Value 4.7/5
Product Specs
Pros
Cons
For reasonably priced cutters that don&#;t sacrifice performance, these Fiskars bypass loppers are a solid choice. The rust-resistant stainless steel blades are hardened and precision ground, meaning they&#;ll retain their edge over an extended period. The low-friction coating allows the blades to cut through wood easily and results in less sap residue. We found these Fiskars loppers easy to use on green branches and the cutting action to be supersmooth. We didn&#;t spot any tearing of the limbs or ragged cuts, which tend to make a tree more susceptible to disease.
These 28-inch cutters are suitable for living green growth with a cutting capacity of branches up to 1.5 inches thick. Shock-absorbing bumpers make the tool easier to use, and padded grips offer additional comfort. While these loppers aren&#;t the lightest on the list, they still weigh a modest 2.9 pounds, so they&#;re not difficult to use when cutting overhead.
After testing, we found that the coated nonstick blade wiped clean with just a soft cloth. This is important because other bypass loppers can be difficult to clean, requiring scrubbing with steel wool and a lubricant. All loppers used to cut green wood will get slightly wet and may become covered in sticky sap, so being able to wipe the blade clean is a big plus. Those looking for a quality cutting tool at a reasonable price won&#;t be disappointed with these Fiskars loppers.
Get the Fiskars 28-inch loppers at Amazon, Ace Hardware, The Home Depot, or Walmart.
Photo: amazon.com
See ItOur Ratings: Ergonomics 5/5; Ease of Use 4.5; Performance 4/5; Durability 5/5; Value 4/5
Pros
Cons
These sturdy bypass loppers are a serious upgrade in performance and ergonomics. In fact, they&#;re a favorite brand of Kaustubh Deo, the owner and CEO of Blooma Tree Experts, a Seattle-based tree care company featuring ISA-certified arborists and 17+ years of experience. He says, &#;We recommend Felco as a brand for loppers and other pruning equipment because they produce high-quality equipment that is trusted by professional crews.&#;
The hardened carbon-steel blades are Swiss made and designed for making clean, precise cuts. Users can also resharpen the blades as needed. Everything about these loppers screams quality. They&#;re made to last, and all of the parts are replaceable, so this may be the last lopper you&#;ll ever buy.
The forged-aluminum handles are smooth to the touch. However, the tool weighs in at 4.4 pounds, so it&#;s not for the faint of heart. With a 33-inch length, these loppers can reach up to trim higher branches. We found it most comfortable to cut branches at waist level or lower. After trimming a few overhead branches, some wrist and arm fatigue began to set in.
The grips on these cutters are nonslip with a slight inward angle, allowing you to exert force while maintaining a more comfortable arm position. Built-in shock absorbers on the handles protect the arms and wrists&#;so they&#;re well suited for intense, time-consuming landscaping tasks. This is a lopper for the serious arborist, and it makes sharp, clean cuts on green wood.
Get the Felco loppers at Amazon, The Home Depot, A. M. Leonard, Big Frog Supply, or Felco.
Photo: amazon.com
See ItOur Ratings: Ergonomics 4/5; Ease of Use 5/5; Performance 4/5; Durability 4/5; Value 4.1/5
Product Specs
Pros
Cons
Weighing less than 1.5 pounds and about 16 inches from end to end, this Woodland Tools lopper is the most compact, lightweight model we tested. It may not look like much, but it proved to us that it is well built for the task of removing hardened dry branches.
We used the Woodland Tools Compact Duralight lopper to remove the branches from a dead and down apple tree. It made quick work of anything that would fit inside the blade, up to about 1.25 inches thick. The handle grips are soft and comfortable, and the short handles made it easy to move around and work among dense branches.
The ratchet assist gave us mixed results: On one hand it truly helped increase cutting force for cutting hard branches, but it requires a wider handle spread to fully open the blade, which occasionally is not possible when working in a tree canopy. Still, to us, the benefit of the shorter handle length and increased cutting force outweighed the occasional lack of room to spread the handles.
Although the tool does not have a conventional bumper guard to keep the handles from knocking together at the end of a cut, the unique U-shaped design maintains adequate separation to protect the user&#;s knuckles. This tool offers a lot of usefulness and only one occasional drawback that we uncovered. It&#;s a smart choice for working on smaller branches in tight spaces.
Get the Woodland Tools loppers at Amazon, Ace Hardware, Menards, or Woodland Tools.
Photo: amazon.com
See ItOur Ratings: Ergonomics 5/5; Ease of Use 5/5; Performance 3.9/5; Durability 4/5; Value 4/5
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The ComfortGEL grips on these Corona loppers felt so good, we didn&#;t even consider wearing gloves when using them. Our hands didn&#;t slip, so we didn&#;t have to worry about blisters. The grips offer just the right amount of padding while remaining solid, and the slightly curved shapes fit nicely in our hands.
The compound action loppers are well suited for cutting thick branches. We were able to remove with ease an unwanted branch on an apple tree that was more than 1.5 inches in diameter. The long aluminum arms make it possible to generate a lot of leverage. The additional compound link magnifies cutting force and reduces the necessary work, while sturdy steel handles manage the extra power. At 3.8 pounds, the Corona loppers are heavier than some of the ones we tested, but they&#;re not quite as heavy as other ratcheting models.
These cutters have a narrower blade opening, so they&#;re beneficial for getting at hard-to-reach tree limbs. When we first examined the loppers, we were disappointed at what appeared to be a plastic link on the opening mechanism. While it is plastic, it&#;s actually a bumper guard&#;an identical steel link on the backside is the actual opening mechanism, so the plastic acts as more of a stabilizer.
Get the Corona Tools DualLINK loppers at Amazon, Ace Hardware, The Home Depot, Walmart, or Northern Tool + Equipment.
Photo: amazon.com
See ItOur Ratings: Ergonomics 5/5; Ease of Use 3/5; Performance 3.5/5; Durability 4/5; Value 3.9/5
Product Specs
Pros
Cons
The curved head on these bypass loppers is large, and the blade is razor-sharp. Our first impression was that the loppers would be out of balance, given the large head size, but they only weigh 2.8 pounds. They don&#;t come with compound action but rather with massive blades and long handles for leverage. We were able to fit a 2-inch green Empress tree branch between the blades and lop it right off. Oak of the same size was tougher but doable.
At 32 inches long, the Corona Tools super-duty loppers are great for reaching branches overhead. These manual loppers come with padded grips for more comfortable operation, and the cutting blade can be resharpened as needed.
A nice upside to these loppers is the steel-spring bumper located in the opening mechanism that keeps users from jamming their hands together after making a tough cut. We appreciated the bumper when putting extra power into cutting through a green branch that seemed challenging but suddenly gave way. The bumper absorbed the shock, and our arms didn&#;t.
Get the Corona Tools super-duty loppers at Amazon, Tractor Supply Co., Forestry Suppliers, or Corona Tools.
Photo: amazon.com
See ItOur Ratings: Ergonomics 5/5; Ease of Use 5/5; Performance 3.8/5; Durability 4/5; Value 4.5/5
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Pros
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At first, we wondered if the Tabor Tools Anvil loppers would cut through stiff dead branches since they don&#;t come with ratcheting action. We need not have worried&#;the loppers instead feature compound-cutting action via a short pivoting arm located at the fulcrum of the blades that increases cutting power.
The manufacturer advertises the loppers as being able to cut through dry branches up to 2 inches thick. We didn&#;t quite pull that off, but we were able to cut through a dead branch on an elm tree that was 1.5 inches thick.
We were super impressed with the grips on this set of loppers&#;they&#;re soft and slightly padded, which allowed us to exert pressure without our hands slipping. At 30 inches long, the sizable arms permitted us to increase leverage on the branches. A shock-absorbing bumper would have been a nice addition, but this is a decent set of loppers for cutting dry wood. At 3.5 pounds, the Tabor Tools loppers are well suited for overhead use without too much wrist and arm fatigue for an average user.
Get the Tabor Tools loppers at Amazon, Walmart, or Tabor Tools.
Photo: amazon.com
See ItOur Ratings: Ergonomics 4/5; Ease of Use 3/5; Performance 4/5; Durability 5/5; Value 4/5
Product Specs
Pros
Cons
We trimmed away several dead willow branches that were damaged in an ice storm earlier this year with the Spear & Jackson loppers. Willow is hard when dry, but the ratcheting action of these loppers increased the cutting force, and with just a slight pumping action, we were able to cut through dead branches as large as 1.5 inches thick.
These loppers can take a little getting used to; when we first spread the handles, the blades didn&#;t open until the handles reached their maximum spread, and then the blade head snapped open. It took four pumps of the blade handle to cut completely through a branch from that point. With each pump, the ratchet action increased the cutting force on the branch until it cut through.
While we tested a couple of other sets of telescoping loppers, this one was the simplest to adjust while cutting. We were able to start a cut on a branch, and while the blade head was firmly gripping the branch, we could twist the bottom of the handle and then pull to lengthen it. This is an excellent feature for those who start a cut and decide they need more leverage from longer handles. At 4.2 pounds, these loppers are on the heavy side, so we had to take a few breaks, but they offer a whole lot of cutting power.
Get the Spear & Jackson loppers at Amazon.
Photo: amazon.com
See ItOur Ratings: Ergonomics 4/5; Ease of Use 4/5; Performance 3.7/5; Durability 4/5; Value 3.9/5
Product Specs
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When it comes to pruning crape myrtles, hollies, and other trees, climbing a ladder is one of the most dangerous parts. The Fiskars Pruning Stik extendable tree pruner allows you to prune branches as high as the second story window without breaking out climbing gear. We used it to shape up a 20-foot-tall cherry laurel.
The Pruning Stik features an articulating lopper that is controlled by a sliding handle at the base of the pole. The lightweight aluminum pole extends and locks in any position between 7.9 and 12 feet long, allowing most users to reach branches 15 feet up the tree or higher. The lopper can accommodate branches up to 1.25 inches thick, and you have the option to attach the removable pruning saw blade for thicker branches up to 6 inches thick.
The pole adjusted quickly and securely with a lever lock to any height between 7.9 and 12 feet. The cutting head also adjusts 90 degrees, from straight in line with the pole to a 90-degree angle, which makes it easy to access and cut the branches from the most convenient direction. We really appreciated how easy it was to reach through &#;good&#; branches and selectively remove others higher up the tree. Unlike a pole saw, the compact cutting head of the Pruning Stik rarely becomes snagged on dense branches.
When we had to remove larger branches, it only took a few seconds to attach the saw blade: One wing nut secures the blade to the pole and another one holds the blade at the desired angle. If a tree branch has to be removed and you can&#;t do it with this tool, it&#;s probably a job for a professional.
Get the Fiskars Pruning Stik loppers at Amazon, Acme Tools, or Forestry Suppliers.
Photo: amazon.com
See ItOur Ratings: Ergonomics 5/5; Ease of Use 5/5; Performance 4/5; Durability 3/5; Value 4.3/5
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Pros
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Right out of the box, the Wolf-Garten loppers are impressive looking with their smooth gray German steel blades, sleek aluminum handles, and contrasting red grips and trim. Their cutting ability was just as remarkable.
These quality bypass loppers open and close so smoothly, it&#;s like gliding&#;nothing sticks, nothing has to be forced. They feature razor-sharp bypass blades that slice through green branches with ease. We were able to cut through a green branch almost 1.75 inches thick without the blades getting stuck. That&#;s pretty impressive for loppers that don&#;t come with ratcheting action. We appreciated the bumper guards that kept the handles from banging together&#;they made cutting virtually shock-free.
If we could ask for one improvement to the Wolf-Garten loppers it would be different arm-extension mechanisms&#;we would have preferred steel over plastic levers&#;for long-term durability. We were able to adjust the length of the handles by depressing the yellow levers on the inside and then pulling or pushing the handles to the desired length. At 3.8 pounds, these aren&#;t the lightest loppers we tested, but their cutting ability is exceptional, and that alone made them worth the higher price.
Get the Wolf-Garten loppers at Amazon or Wolf-Garten.
At first glance, loppers all look pretty much the same&#;with two handles that open wide to manipulate their scissorlike blades. But there are substantial differences between models.
Loppers are categorized based on their blades, either anvil or bypass. Each type works better on different types of stems and branches.
Anvil loppers feature a stationary base (anvil) with a groove. They have a movable sharpened blade that presses into the groove when trimming branches. Anvil loppers are suitable for cutting dry, brittle branches and dead stems, snapping them in half with ease. They&#;re not optimal for trimming soft green branches because they tend to crush and tear the limbs rather than make a clean cut.
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Bypass loppers work much like scissors; two sharpened blades overlap one another to make a clean cut. Bypass loppers are best for making sharp cuts on soft, green branches. But cutting through stiff, dead branches with bypass loppers can dull the blades or even leave nicks. Choose a bypass lopper for trimming back green growth, such as shaping an overgrown shrub.
Like many pruning shears, lopper blades are made from steel, but not all steel is the same. Some loppers contain a coating to protect the blade, preserve its edge, and to provide easier cleaning.
Nothing resists staining and rust quite as well as stainless steel. However, it&#;s not as durable as carbon steel and tends to bend if used on hard, dry branches. Stainless steel blades come at a higher price and aren&#;t easy to sharpen once they become dull.
The toughest lopper blades are made from carbon steel, and they do the best job of cutting thick branches. On the other hand, these tools rust more easily than stainless steel, so the blades should be wiped clean after every use. You can easily sharpen dull carbon-steel blades with a basic sharpening stone or a carbide file.
A Teflon or titanium coating offers a measure of rust protection to carbon-steel blades. The coating makes it easier to clean sap residue that results from cutting green tree branches. Coated blades hold their sharpness longer, but they too eventually become dull. The coating doesn&#;t cover the blade&#;s edge, so sharpening should not remove the coating.
Expert advice: Kaustubh Deo says that &#;a common mistake folks make when using hand tools like loppers or hand saws is they start using more and more force as the blades get dull. This can lead to safety accidents when a branch finally gives way and you lose control of your tool unexpectedly due to the amount of force you&#;re applying.&#; He goes on to say that &#;just like a kitchen knife, [loppers] are usually safest when the tool is sharp.&#;
Deo says that &#;each cut is a moment of trauma for the plant, so you want it to be precise and quick to limit unintentional damage.&#; With that in mind, it is important to know that loppers vary in their cutting action, which affects their operation and suitability for specific tasks.
To determine suitable length and weight for loppers, the trick is to know your own strength and cutting needs. The shortest loppers measure about 15 inches from the end of the handles to the tip of the cutting blades, and they can weigh as little as 11 ounces, which is a good length and weight for pruning narrower branches.
Lengthier loppers, measuring 32 inches or more, are handier when you need to reach high branches without having to stand on a ladder. Longer loppers are heavier, with some weighing more than 4 pounds, so they&#;re more likely to cause arm fatigue.
A long lopper offers more reach and often enhanced power if it uses compound action. But if you can&#;t make clean cuts with it, opt for a shorter length. Some models have telescoping handles that you can extend or shorten as necessary. Some of the models we tested were relatively large and heavy, and were better suited to trimming branches at or below waist level.
Many loppers come with padded rubber or foam grips designed to reduce slippage, hand fatigue, and blisters. The softest foam handles feel great in your hands, but they&#;re also more prone to nicks and tears. If you plan on using the loppers extensively, consider a pair with molded rubber grips that will hold up to the extra work.
While padded grips make pruning tasks more comfortable, it&#;s still important to wear gardening gloves when using this tool. It didn&#;t take long during my hands-on tests to discover that a pair of suitable leather gloves was also helpful in keeping blisters at bay.
A quality pair of loppers is an arborist&#;s or home landscaper&#;s best friend, but dozens of sets are available, and users want to know whether they&#;re getting a good deal for the price. A few questions are to be expected for those looking to invest in a set (or two) of loppers.
Q. What do you use loppers for?Loppers serve multiple landscaping purposes, from pruning shrubs to cutting the limbs of dead trees. Loppers are like pruning shears with extended handles, and both gardening tools require manual operation.
Q. What is the difference between a lopper and a pruner?Loppers require two hands to operate and are designed to cut midsize stems and branches. Pruners are smaller and more closely resemble scissors. Pruning shears require only one hand to operate and are intended for cutting smaller stems and branches.
Q. What should I look for when buying a lopper?The most suitable loppers for you depend on intended use, budget, arm strength, and preferences related to material and comfort.
Bypass vs. anvil blades: Bypass loppers are suitable for cutting living plants, like green tree branches and shrubbery, while anvil blades are better at handling dry, brittle branches.
Cutting action: Basic manual models work best on narrow branches; ratcheting cutters are more effective for thicker stems; and compound-action loppers are intended for use on cutting thicker branches. These tools often possess the most cutting power.
Blade material: Stainless steel resists rust and stains, generally requiring less maintenance compared to carbon steel. Blades containing carbon steel do not have these characteristics unless they&#;re treated with a protective coating. Carbon steel is more rigid, less expensive, and more easily sharpened.
Length: Naturally, longer loppers (33 inches or more) are best for reaching to cut higher branches and shrub leaves. Models with a telescoping handle are versatile and some provide significant length adjustment.
Ergonomics: Cutters with padded grips made of rubber or foam are more comfortable to use. If arm fatigue and wrist pain are concerns for you, go with loppers that weigh less than 3 pounds and have shock-absorbing handles.
This depends on the types of branches and stems you plan on cutting. Bypass loppers are more suitable for sharp cuts through soft, living plants like overgrown shrubs. These blades may dull when used on hard, dead branches. Anvil loppers are more suitable for this type of task, while they tend to crush and tear softer greenery.
Q. How thick of a branch can loppers cut?A heavy-duty anvil lopper is capable of cutting dead branches up to about 3 inches thick. Some large-head loppers, such as the Corona Tools Super-Duty loppers, can cut green branches up to 3 inches thick.
Q. What is the best telescopic tree pruner?The Spear & Jackson loppers are one of the best tools for dealing with thicker dead branches with an adjustable length between 18 inches and 30 inches. For telescoping action in a bypass lopper, consider the Wolf-Garten loppers.
Q. How do you maintain a lopper?Loppers with carbon-steel blades generally require more upkeep. Unlike stainless steel, this material is susceptible to rust and stains. Wipe carbon steel blades clean after each use. Additionally, components of the cutting mechanism should be lubricated to maintain smooth cutting performance.
Glenda Taylor is a product tester and writer specializing in the construction, remodeling, and real estate industries. She and her husband own a general contracting company, and Taylor is experienced in both residential and commercial building applications. She tests a wide range of power tools as well as other home improvement, household, and lawn-and-garden products.
Mark Wolfe is a writer and product tester with a background in the nursery and landscaping industry. For more than 20 years he mowed, edged, planted, pruned, cultivated, irrigated, and renovated beautiful landscapes. Now he tests and writes reviews about the latest outdoor power equipment, hand tools, lawn-care products, and other outdoor-living goods.
Additional research provided by Mark Wolfe.
(This is a slightly edited version of the same article published a few years ago in the HPSO Bulletin.)
The Pruning Series, 1
If you garden you will need to prune. Pruning is necessary not only for garden aesthetics but for the health and survival of plants in your garden. Gardens are our own inventions. They are infused with our intentions while the natural forces at play in any landscape work toward their own conclusion. We gather plants from disparate places around the world, put them together on soils in climates they did not evolve with, in intimate relationships we impose. We will have to be involved in an &#;editing&#; process that is ongoing within the ebb and flow of plant growth and death that will include shuffling, removals, additions and pruning. Gardens are dynamic. Whether we make &#;good&#; plant choices or not our continued involvement is a given. If we are good observers and modify our actions accordingly, we can move our gardens toward a balance that will require less of us. If we have aesthetic priorities that we are unwilling to relinquish, we will have to work to assure they continue. If our knowledge of how the plant will perform on our site is less than perfect and we fail to take all of it into consideration when we planted, we will have to intervene, maybe regularly.
Pruning includes more than the artful, structural and health enhancing cutting and removal of the woody tissue of trees, shrubs and vines. It includes:
The removal of reversions from asexually propagated plants to protect the cultivars desirable characteristics.
The cutting back of herbaceous perennials to shorten and stiffen stems so that they don&#;t flop with the weight of blooms.
Deadheading to encourage reblooming and the removal of collapsed bloomed out stems that ring the flush of mid-summer re-growth.
The removal of overly vigorous growth that threatens to smother less robust neighbors.
The late winter removal of the top growth of ornamental grasses.
The removal of damaged or broken roots when planting.
The removal of the year old growth on evergreen perennials like Helleborous x hybridus to better display their blooms and ferns so that the declining foliage doesn&#;t detract from the fresh new growth.
The removal of the spent flowers from these plants that would otherwise seed too aggressively around the garden.
Before starting any of these diverse tasks it is important to keep in mind that poorly maintained and poor quality tools can not only be frustrating to use but can negatively effect both the quality and amount of work that you do. Cheap tools will fail at a higher rate than one of quality and when it does it will probably be a throwaway because replacement parts are unavailable or they are not designed to be worked on. Keep in mind that we are gardeners for the long term. Our tools should not be a hindrance to doing good work nor should they be unnecessarily damaging to our own health and bodies. You can buy a good tool once or a poor tool many times.
Hand Pruners/ Secateurs
The most important single tool you will use for this work will be your pair of hand pruners or secateurs. They can be used for nearly any pruning job if the material is not too large. I even use mine, in the closed position, to score the sides of root bound planting material. This is one tool you should not scrimp on. Quality materials are essential. Good steel will take and keep a better edge. A sharp edge will make a cleaner cut with less damage to the remaining tissue. A good quality, clean cut, will lead to less rot and healthier plants. A better quality tool will have replacement parts available greatly extending their useful life. I choose Felco brand by-pass shears. By-pass type shears cut with a scissor like action. My Felco #2&#;s at home are thirty + years old. Twenty years ago I bought a pair of Felco #7&#;s for my wife&#;s use, she has much smaller hands, but find myself using them for lighter work. I can reach further into plants and can hold them with my fingers instead of seated fully in my grip.
Many home gardeners choose the anvil type pruner instead of the bypass. They are often cheaper. The anvil type has one sharpened blade that presses into the stem while pinching the stem against a flattened &#;anvil&#;. To fully cut through the material the cutting edge must press firmly into the anvil. If it doesn&#;t the cut will be incomplete. Crushed stem tissue is likely to occur. There may also be stem fibers that are uncut leaving a slight tongue. Any irregularities in a cut will slow the callusing, healing over of the wound, and increase the opportunities for rot. It should also be noted that anvil pruners can have more trouble cutting soft herbaceous material. Another physical consideration of the anvil type pruner is that the anvil itself, because of its width may prevent you from making the cut in the best position.
By-pass type shears, like Felco, have a curved blade that improves the shearing action. The blade tends to &#;slide&#; through the cut as it moves passed the opposite fixed and curved &#;blade&#;, vs. pushing straight into an anvil, requiring less pressure and thereby less hand fatigue. The fixed curved &#;blade&#; tends to hold the stem in place and is less likely to scoot it forward and away from the descending cutting blade.
[If well cared for, and kept sharp, any hand pruner will perform better producing consistently better cuts, less crushed tissue and fewer &#;tails&#;. Keep them clean. Pitch and sticky latex, will attract dirt, all which will increase friction. Increased friction will require more force to make the same cut, increase the stress on your hands and the pressure/ damage to the tissues you are cutting. I routinely clean up all cutting surfaces with water, soap or whatever will help dissolve away the crud. I periodically use fine steel wool to polish the rough spots and hardened organic gunk away. I remove any rust at the same time and oil both blades and any other moving parts including the spring with a light oil like WD-40.
Store all &#;edge&#; tools, like pruners and shovels, in a dry place. This will reduce the opportunity for rust. Rusting is a chemical process in which iron from the blade is combined with oxygen in the atmosphere, oxidation. It physically deteriorates the surface and can lead to &#;pitting&#; increasing friction and drag. A light oil will protect the metal from the moisture necessary for the rusting process. Always oil after cleaning.]
[If at all possible, keep your pruning tools out of the dirt! I say dirt because your garden soil is not a positive or even benign medium for these tools. Garden soil is largely composed of mineral particles not unlike those used to sharpen or polish metallic surfaces. In the ground they will work to grind off your carefully created and maintained cutting edge. You may also hit rocks which can dent or break the edge in away that will require much more metal to be removed in order to recreate your edge. A chainsaw or hand saw used to cut roots in the soil will, very quickly, be rendered useless. The dirt will destroy your edge, blunting it. The teeth will still be there, but it will cut very poorly and only with a lot more time and effort. Hand pruners and loppers, because their contact with the soil is more limited, and are not being dragged at speed through thousands of dulling particles, will hold up better and can be brought back to sharpness with less filing and honing. Good soil is your friend but dirt is the enemy of all edge tools.
Raise what you are cutting up out of the soil if at all possible. When cutting roots in the ground use your loppers or hand pruners. Their edge can be brought back much easier.
Learn to sharpen your saws correctly or take them in. I sometimes touch up the teeth on a chainsaw, but this requires more skill. The hand saws I recommend require different types of files than is needed for traditional western style saws. If you use the wrong file you will destroy the saw. If you do choose to use a saw on roots, use a cheap one. You will be surprised how quickly the blade is dulled by the dirt.
If I am removing a stump I never choose a saw to cut roots. My tools of choice are a Pulaski, a balling shovel and/or a spade like a King of Spades. These are designed for this kind of heavy work. The Pulaski was built as a firefighters tool after the Great Fire of which burned over 2 million acres, primarily in Idaho, and killed 87 people. It is essentially an axe with another axe blade welded opposite it at 90deg. This tool is ideal for chopping roots away while minimizing any contortions you might need to get in to do the job. Because axes and chopping tools are not filed to as thin an edge as are pruning tools and are forged of &#;softer&#; less brittle steel, they withstand rougher use.]
Unlike anvil type, bypass shears are sharpened on one side of the blade only, away from the fixed &#;blade&#;. &#;Never&#; sharpen both sides of the blade on bypass shears, they&#;re like scissors, it will ruin the blade. Improperly sharpened in this way a cut will tend to push/bend the blades apart and the cut will be of poor quality. The blade can becomes badly damaged requiring that it be replaced. When sharpening maintain the original manufacturer&#;s ground edge. Make it thinner and the edge can dent or break. Blunt it and more force is required to make the cut.
I sharpen the blade without removing it from the tool. The blade needs to be held solidly so while filing or honing they don&#;t waver and create an irregular edge. I keep my edges sharp by consistently honing them with a small steel that has diamond embedded in it. Some of us are old enough to remember barber shops in the day when barbers used a straight razor to shave their clients. A big leather strop hanging from the chair was used each time before shaving the customer. The hone, like a strop, removes very little metal, working to polish an already relatively sharp edge. A file should only be necessary if the blade is damaged or heavily worn. This doesn&#;t have to happen. When I use a file, I have 4&#; flat file. It is small enough to maneuver inside the open blades of the tool. The coarseness of a file is proportional to its length. It is fairly fine, but it still removes metal. Keep your hand pruners sharp! If for no other reason than to save your hands.
Remember, when choosing a pruning tool consider what you are cutting, your tool options and your abilities. In general, hand pruners are useful cutting wood up to 1/2&#; or so. If you are squeezing your hand pruners with both hands and twisting them back and forth in the cut, stop. Choose loppers or a saw. The twisting can damage your hands, spring the blade on your pruners ruining them and cause more damage to the cambium. Don&#;t do this!!!
[Gardening is demanding of our hands. We grip pruners, dig with shovels and tear apart root balls with our hands. Make it a habit to regularly stretch your hands and fingers at least daily. I lace my fingers, turn my palms outward and press through my palms. I have been gardening for 35+ years and working professionally in the field for over 30 yet have no carpel tunnel or tendonitis. It&#;s not just genes.]
When you choose a pair of hand pruners make sure they fit your hands and the job. Felco makes several models. Too big or too small is bad mechanically for your hand. They also make them for lefties. Their models #7, 10 & 12 have handles that rotate putting less strain on your hand. The different models also vary in size of wood they can cut and they amount of leverage pressure they can apply. Try them out.
There are both ratcheting hand pruners and loppers out there. I have not used any of them though some friends and co-workers have liked them. A ratcheting cutting tool will take two or more squeezes to complete a single cut reducing the strain on your hands. For people with carpel tunnel or arthritis this can be a big deal so they are definitely worth considering. Again, I don&#;t have these problems and it does slow the process. Also, the majority of ratcheting cutting tools are anvil type though there are some bypass type available. The quality of the construction generally seems a little gimmicky to me&#;the quality isn&#;t there for me. If I were shopping for a pair of these I would still check to make sure replacement parts are available. It has always bothered me to buy cheap tools that turn out to be disposable.
Loppers
Loppers are another commonly used pruning tool. Personally, I don&#;t use them too much. They do provide a longer reach and more leverage. Some of my peers regularly carry two, one with short handles, often the 17&#; Felco #20, the other the 25&#; Felco #21. The shorter loppers cut wood similar in size to the hand pruners, have the same quality steel and reduce the wear and tear on hands. The longer tool cuts larger wood and allows you to cut nearer to the ground without kneeling. When choosing loppers lightness is an issue. Holding loppers out away from the body can be tiring.
I use bypass type loppers. Their action is the same as it is for the hand pruners. Their care is the same as well. The primary difference is the diameter of wood that they can cut, though as with hand pruners, you will find that wood can vary considerably in hardness. Any Salix, or Willow, is softer and cuts more easily than Quercus, or Oak, the harder wood reduces the caliper size of branch you can cut. Sometimes I&#;ve seen people attempt to cut through harder wood by bracing one of the handles against a solid surface and leaning their body weight against the other handle to cut through a branch. This is a great way to ruin your loppers as they aren&#;t designed for this kind of force and may cause the handle to break, if its wood, or bend, if it&#;s metal. Get a saw.
Loppers can come with other features such as extendable handles to provide you with a longer reach and more leverage. I have a pair of Fiskars that do this. (I use the Fiskars at home. The blade is not replaceable, but I don&#;t really use them that much so I will have them for quite awhile. I know, I&#;m not being consistent here.) While this sounds like a good idea, it did to me, in practice it didn&#;t really work that well. When extended the longer handles open wider often conflicting with branches you aren&#;t going to cut. Your actual reach, by the time the jaws are open wide enough to get around the branch, may be less than you would expect. Think back to high school geometry, as you widen the angle of a triangles two &#;legs&#;, the lopper handles in this case, the height of the triangle, your &#;reach&#; with your loppers, lessens. The cutting &#;head&#; moves closer to you as the jaws open.
Felco loppers use the same high quality materials as their by-pass hand shears. Bahco, formerly Sandvik, also make high quality hand pruners and loppers. I use a pair of short handled Coronas sometimes while pruning roses to give my hand a rest. The ash handles, while not as strong, are light enough and more than adequate when I&#;m working on roses (I used to prune more than a thousand every year). They are more of a hassle carrying around as you can&#;t shove them into a holster or pocket when you aren&#;t using them.
I will use loppers for doing what I would call a lot of gross removal, chopping away the tangled growth of suckering shrubs like Red Twig Dogwood to renew it, cutting back blackberries to get to the base so I can remove it or removing the hundreds of sprouts that sometime cover the trunks of Elm trees. I use them when I am less worried about the quality of each cut, the number of cuts is daunting or the cutting area is to congested to get in with a saw. I will also use them to chop up prunings in the back of my truck to reduce their bulk and number of requisite trips to the debris dump or to fill my debris can. My co-workers tend to use them more to protect their hands from wear.
Hand Saws
In most situations, cutting larger wood, though still less than 2 1/2&#; or so, I prefer to use my folding Felco #60 (ARS and Corona make comparable saws. I use this tool a lot! Not all Corona saws have this type of blade, so pay attention.) As I stated before, my preference is to saw a branch too large for my hand pruners rather than using loppers as I think it makes a better quality cut. Remember, the cleaner the cut, and better positioned it is, the more quickly it will heal over and deter rotting. It is easy to carry in my back or side pocket in my Carhart&#;s. It&#;s 6&#; blade is narrower at the top, or back of the blade, than down at the teeth so that the blade sides do not come in contact with the wood creating drag. It cuts quickly on the pull. Don&#;t bear down when you push it through, you are likely to break the blade, saw blades are hard and brittle compared to shears and shovels. The teeth are taper ground, in the Japanese style, not with the conventional western tooth pattern. These saws require less effort to cut with.
Good fixed blade saws are also out there. They are carried in sheaths to protect the blades and the users. These are longer and can cut larger wood. A 13&#; blade, such as is on the Felco #611, can cut wood, if you&#;re ambitious, up to 8&#; or so. These saws make very clean cuts when compared to a chainsaw or more traditional crosscut type saws. Fanno makes an old favorite of mine, Fanno 30&#; Pruning Saw No. RF-05. It has a flat laminated 30&#; long wood handle and a 16 ½&#; blade. While this may be more saw than the average home gardener generally needs it is a wonderful tool allowing you a little longer reach, providing a buffering distance from a dropping limb and a more aggressive tooth to cut through wood quickly. Unless you&#;re routinely cutting your own firewood to heat your home, good handsaws, such as these, should preclude the need for a homeowner to have and wield a much more dangerous chainsaw. Yes they do require effort, you are the power source, but I have watched many inexperienced, ill-trained, homeowners using dull chainsaws doing things that beg for a serious injury.
Americans love their power tools. If I&#;m falling a tree or bucking one up or am facing days of heavy cleanup work after a storm, I pull out a chainsaw. In Parks I could do more heavy pruning after a single big storm event than will probably face the home gardener in a lifetime. Power tools are seductive. If we have them we&#;ll use them. They are expensive, require regular maintenance that most of us are not skilled at providing and, are dangerous to the user and those around them. Be aware! A good sharp handsaw can do most jobs. If you are doing removals or heavy pruning after storm damage, consider hiring a professional. (There probably isn&#;t a more dangerous tool out there than a dull chainsaw or one with a loose chain! Don&#;t think that an electric chainsaw is safe! Get safety training and wear chaps!)
Hedge Shears
There&#;s an old gardening maxim that I used to hear. It went something like this, when tasked with the care of a landscape, &#;shear shrubs and trim trees.&#; Maybe it was a mnemonic people used to remember the difference in care. It has supplanted thought for many people. Much of the public view their hedge shears as an indispensable tool in the garden. What else would you do with a shrub than shear it? It&#;s what most of the mow and blow commercial landscapers do as well. We transform them into shapes that have more in common with geometry than they do with the fierce and wild plants they actually share DNA with. These are abstractions that can compromise their health. Shears do have a place in the highly formalized landscape, but they are over used. They feed their users need for neatness, uniformity and speed. In general, they violate my aesthetic. (I won&#;t be getting in to the &#;trim trees&#; part here, beyond saying it serves the same need, to contain, and permits their practitioners to ignore the peculiarities of a plant essential to it, that make it uniquely beautiful. There are several good books on pruning that languish on shelves.) Plants should be recognized for their unique as well as shared characteristics. We should not assume them all the same and treat them as such.
[Pruning Books: Cass Turnbull&#;s Guide to Pruning, a pracitical guide with humor from the founder of Plant Amnesty and Christopher Brickell&#;s, The American Horticulture Society Pruning and Training, encyclopedic in it&#;s scope and completeness. Anyone who prunes should have a basic understanding of tree biology, how they grow, respond to pruning and injury and &#;compartmentalize&#; wounds. Every pruning cut is a &#;wound&#;. Are you adding to the problem?]
Having said that, I do use gas powered hedge shears. I have no hedges to keep trimmed anymore and am glad. By the end of a year some of my co-workers have cut several thousand feet of hedge. What I used them on were an acre + of ornamental grasses or battling back stands of Blackberry reaching over my head. Hand hedge shears just don&#;t work. Cutting multiple mature Pennisetum and Miscanthus will destroy your hands before you finish no matter how sharp your pruners are. It is also extremely time consuming. Most of my peers prefer to use the &#;shear on a stick&#;, or articulated shear. These look something like a string trimmer with a hedge shear on the end. The cutting head articulates so the angle of the blade, relative to the pole, can be set. It allows you to maintain an upright more comfortable position. I prefer blades that can cut on both sides. This helps relieve the back stress otherwise created by continuously pressing it one direction. These are professional grade (we use Stihl and Echo) expensive tools (around $500) and not practical for the homeowner unless they have enough formal hedges and mature grasses that they can justify it. They are also handy for cutting down groundcovers like Epimedium. (Yes, you can use string trimmers but they are quite a bit slower and tend to throw debris around making more of a mess. They also leave torn edges.)
Alternatively, you can reduce the amount of hedging and larger growing, mature, ornamental grasses in your care. Dividing your grasses regularly will keep the crown sizes down making them easier to cut. The larger Pennisetums are very dense and have a high silica content making them difficult to cut back much like dividing large clumps are. For these the traditional gas hedge works best because the new growth radiates out from a relatively tall crown so you must angle your blade as you cut so that the grasses don&#;t end up looking like a bad monk&#;s bowl cut.
Pole Pruners & Loppers
Those of you interested in pole pruners and saws have probably been frustrated by the large number of such tools utilizing round fiberglass poles. All of these that I&#;ve tried flex too much and, in the process, absorb much of the energy I&#;m trying to put into the cut. This can be compounded when the branch you are attempting to saw or lop bends with your effort as well. A more rigid pole will reduce the necessary effort. Old school wood handles were often more rigid, good, but, didn&#;t telescope in and out sometimes making them more unwieldy especially when working at those inbetween distances. There are other problems with such tools. Because you may be standing well below your cut, the length of the pole and the room needed for the mechanism to work on the lopper, you are going to leave stubs and the angle of your cuts maybe less than ideal resulting in more rot in the tree. These are bad for the tree.
Silky makes a professional grade aluminum extension saw in 16&#; and 21&#; lengths with high quality blades. I&#;ve used a friend&#;s and found it to be much more rigid than any of the fiberglass models. It has a double locking system and the pole&#;s oval shape, in cross-section, reduces the flop and flex. These start at over $200. ARS, has another professional grade system that has a ridged track that helps minimize flex and flopping to either side. Their poles have a quick release to swap between saw and lopper heads. These are over $200 also. You get what you pay for. (Aluminum poles and power lines can be a fatal combination. People are electrocuted every year somewhere doing this. Don&#;t chance it! Stay well away from any electric lines.)
If you are looking for a workout several companies, e.g., Stihl and Echo, produce a 12&#; chainsaw on an extendable pole. While these don&#;t extend as high as their unpowered brethren, they can help you get through a lot of work quickly. The 2-cycle engine mounts at the base of the pole to &#;balance&#; out the saw on the other end. At full extension, you can make cuts 16&#; up into a tree and they are relatively stable. When revved up the torque can make the saw a little difficult to control and it may skip around making cut placement more difficult, but once they are up to speed they settle down. At 15-17 pounds these saws deliver quite a work out. They cut quickly. Safety wise, the spinning chain is well away from you, just be very sure your help and observers are well away should it swing or you stumble. Be sure to keep debris cleared out from your work area so as not to trip you. Again, price is an issue with these saws as these are in the $600 and up range.
Combination Power Tools
Sthil and Echo both make a line of multi-tasking, &#;professional&#; grade tools. These have a basic power unit you can easily attach tools like string-trimmers, edgers, hedge shears and chain saws. These are cheaper than buying two or more of the one use tools I&#;ve described above. They may be a better fit for the homeowner/gardener. If you are considering these make sure you stay away from the lighter use homeowner specials that are out there. While I haven&#;t used any of these myself, I know some people who are happy with them.
When limbing a tree with any saw, hand, pole or chain, you must use proper technique to ensure that your saw does not get pinched in the cut or your branch does not tear down the trunk. The weight of the branch can collapse against the blade as the cut deepens. If this is up in the tree beyond your reach you&#;ll need another saw to free it. If you make a single top cut, the weight of the branch can cause it to fail before you finish, tearing into the trunk, adding years to the time required to close the wound and stop rot.
It is good practice to cut any sizeable limb using a three cut system. First, make an undercut away from where you want your finished cut. This will stop any tongue from tearing back into the tree. Second, make a top cut above or just outside your undercut. The branch will drop suddenly and cleanly. Make sure that you, children, pets and gawkers are clear. They won&#;t have time to get clear when it drops! Third, make your finished cut where you want it just outside the branch &#;collar&#;. Pole saws make this more difficult because your cuts tend to be made more on the side of the branch than clearly on the top and bottom. Still, try to do this. It will reduce the chances of your saw getting stuck or tearing.
I try not to use a pole saw at my maximum reach. If I do, the saw is probably perpendicular to the ground. It is very likely that your cut will not be at the correct angle and will damage the branch collar retarding healing. Educate yourself on how to make a good pruning cut. Use your tools as intended.
A word on ladders. Ladders can get you up into trees. Just remember, falls cause many serious injuries. Expensive pole pruners are cheaper than medical bills and broken bones. Ladders can shift throwing you off balance. Three legged orchard ladders, when set up properly, are relatively stable on uneven ground. Never use step ladders while pruning in the garden. Their bases are narrow and they cannot be set up solidly on sloping or uneven ground. Extension ladders can be problematic in a tree. As comical and improbable as it may seem, people have sawn off the limbs that their ladders were resting against. Branches, you lean your ladder against, can fail. People also, when they feel comfortable on a ladder, may tend to reach further than they should and loose their balance when the branch/ladder shifts. I do use orchard ladders. They are a relatively safe, but you will never be as stable as you are standing on the ground. If you are perched on any ladder when a branch falls toward you your options are very limited. Always keep the path of the falling branch in mind, especially when working from a ladder. It should go without saying that free climbing in a tree and pruning without training and safety harnesses, etc., can be very hazardous. Pruning is one of the more enjoyable horticultural tasks for me. It can also be one of the more dangerous.
Arborists are trained and may have many years of experience. They aren&#;t simply homeowners with fancy tools. They know how to climb safely. They are trained in techniques to minimize damage to the tree, themselves, adjacent structures and valued plant material in the vicinity. Knowledgeable, licensed and certified arborists will not do work that will damage the longevity of your tree. They will not knowingly transform your tree into a weakened blight on the neighborhood. You likely don&#;t have this training or expertise. Don&#;t go cheap. There are people willing to do the work who are poorly trained and under insured. If you go with them, make sure your insurance coverage is good, because the injuries and damage they cause on your property may come back on you.
Now that you have outfitted yourself with good quality pruning tools and know how to maintain them in good working condition, you still have to know what you&#;re doing. You need to know how, where, when and why to make a cut. Pruning a Forsythia, is not the same as pruning an elegant Japanese Maple or making training cuts on a Gingko in your parking strip. Giving me a scalpel does not make me a surgeon. Take classes, read, ask questions and observe. Observation is required for good horticultural practice. How does the plant respond to my cut? It will vary from species to species, sometimes even between varieties. Many responses are shared widely. Relax. Pruning is both art and science and, as such, will take time and attention to develop. Just being aware of this has you moving in the right direction. Don&#;t be intimidated. Be thoughtful.
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