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A Cut Above: Pruners, Loppers, Saws, and Their Relatives
by Cheryl Dorschner
I try to live up to expectations of what a garden should be by planting and tending in a frenzy—perennials, annuals, vegetables, trees, and shrubs. My toolshed is a testimonial to my efforts. Yet my gardening heart is where the lawn and gardens end: My idea of pleasure is cutting trails through our woods to reveal clusters of jack-in-the-pulpit and moss-covered boulders. One of our neighborhood goals is to open up connecting paths through the woods behind our houses so we can visit each other without using the highway. This gardening is done with saws, loppers, shears, and pruners.
The longer I garden, the more I appreciate well-crafted, durable tools: a pruner whose top handle rises to meet and support the thumb, or a lightweight but sturdy lopper with soft, no-slip grips. Tools like these turn work into pleasure. The wrong trowel will only get the job done awkwardly, but the wrong saw may injure the sawyer and forever damage a tree that's taken 50 years to reach maturity.
When it comes to settling on cutting tools, try out as many as you can before buying. Don't be shy about asking storeowners to slide a tool out of its packaging so you can get a grip on it. Ask friends if you can try their tools. Take the time to choose the most comfortable tools you can find—ones that feel good in your hands. First and foremost, buy tools that are sized for you.
Even the best cutting tools become dull with use, so I look for tools made from tempered steel, which can be sharpened, and for tools for which replacement parts are available. Among the well-known manufacturers of cutting implements are Ames, ARS, Barnel, Corona, Fanno, Felco, Okatsune, and Wallace/Fiskars, but don't feel you must limit yourself to these brand names.
Pruners
Bypass pruners are very popular with North American gardeners. They make even, close cuts that are ideal for living plant material.
A hand pruner, or secateur, is the tool of choice for cutting soft and woody stems up to 1/2 inch in diameter. It's the tool I use more than any other. To keep track of your pruner, invest in a leather holster for your belt ($12).
Pruners come in two basic styles. Bypass pruners have a blade sharpened on the outside edge that slides past a hook; they make clean, even, close cuts. Anvil pruners have one sharp blade (sharpened on both edges) that hits a flat surface; they tend to leave a small stub but are unsurpassed for cutting deadwood. Which is better? "In Europe, the anvil pruner is thought to be better," says Josh Newman, the sales manager for Barnel International, an Oregon tool company. "But North American gardeners feel that the bypass makes a cleaner cut without crushing stems. We sell about 1,000 to 1 bypass to anvil."
The classic bypass pruner is a Felco #2. It's the standard by which others are measured. "They're just plain made of the best-quality materials and craftsmanship," says a representative of OESCO, a Connecticut orchard supply company. Felco #2s have forged steel blades that can be aligned and a shock absorber between the padded alloy handles, and they come with a lifetime guarantee. All the parts of Felco pruners are replaceable. Damage a blade or a spring and you can buy a new one. That's a good deal since the pruners cost between $35 to $65.
Pruners come in left-handed and small-size models, and with straight, narrow, and curved blades as well as the standard designs. The Felco #6, for example, is for small hands and small jobs, and the Felco #11 has a narrow, pointed blade for close work. The ARS needle-nose pruner has an even longer blade, designed for cutting the stems of flowers, vegetables, and fruits ($15). Corona is among the firms that make a bypass cut-and-hold pruner ($40).
Other characteristics fine-tune the differences among pruners. Pruners with ratchets increase hand power a notch at a time, thus allowing you to nip larger stems. Ratchet tools are made in the anvil style, and to keep the added ratchet from making the tool too heavy, most are made of die-cast aluminum, plastic, or nylon. Lightweight Florian ratchet pruners cost about $40.
Rolling-handle pruners turn as you grip the handle shut. Originally designed for field-workers whose hands became blistered after long days of pruning, this swiveling action spreads the muscle effort to the entire hand. The results? Reduced fatigue and less chance of tendonitis. Gardeners either love the rolling handle or hate it, so this pruner may not be a good "first purchase." Felco originated the design and sells right- and left-handed models ($50).
One of my favorite pruners, made by Barnel, sports a center bolt with an oil reservoir that self-oils the tool each time you open and close the blade. The company makes a full line of both anvil and bypass pruners, all with the self-oiler ($8 to $26).
Long- or telescopic-handled pruners are designed for "out-of-reach" jobs, such as the interior of a shrub rose or a small tree. Most are lightweight, have bypass blades, extensions that range from two to four feet long, and a scissorlike one-hand grip. Prices for two-foot models start at $50.
Loppers
While there are both long-handled pruners and mini-loppers, to confuse matters, for the most part loppers are pruners with heavy blades and sturdy handles up to a couple of feet long. They allow gardeners to nab branches 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter.
As with pruners, loppers come in anvil, bypass, and ratcheting (also called "geared" and "compound linkage") styles. Their usefulness is in their handles: They're not just longer, allowing you to reach places hand pruners don't; they also give you terrific leverage. Handles are available in wood, but most gardeners opt for aluminum, tubular steel, or fiberglass with cushioned grips. Choose a lopper that has carbon steel blades and is fitted with "bumpers," rubber cushions that stop the cut when you bring the handles together. Loppers with handles in the 15- to 21-inch range are easiest to work with; heavier and longer-handled models give you better reach and more power. Prices range between $30 and $160 (for the 29-inch ratchet "Power Lopper" made by C.K.).
Pole Pruners
Pole pruners, which are essentially pruner blades mounted on the end of a pole, will keep your ladder-climbing to a minimum. You make the cut—up to two inches with standard-size models—by pulling on a rope (or sliding collar or lever) that is connected to the blades by a pulley. Prices range from $60 to more than $100.
Many pole pruners are also fitted with a small saw for handling branches that are too large for the blades. If you're not trying to reach halfway up a mature maple, Fiskars' ten-foot, rotating-head "Pruning Stik" may be all you need. It's light, yet tough enough to slice through limbs up to 1 1/2 inches in diameter ($75). Corona makes a pruner with a telescoping pole—to 12 feet—that costs $70.
Shears
Tools for cutting, from left to right: thinning shears (top), flower shears (bottom), hedge shears, and grass shears. From clipping topiaries to deadheading flowers and trimming grass, shears serve many purposes.
Shears have brought us America's most lamented landscape feature: The "pyramids and meatballs" that mask way too many house foundations. (And the late 20th century compounded the sin by bringing us electric- and gas-powered shears.) But it's not the fault of the tool, and shears are useful in the garden when plants such as hedges or topiaries need regular clipping; when flowers, vegetables, and fruits need to be picked; and when herbaceous plants need to be cut back, thinned, or deadheaded. What you buy depends on your garden.
Flower shears
Scissors may be a better term for these shears, which are designed for cutting and deadheading flowers. Like scissor blades, both of the slender bypass blades are sharpened; some models are designed to trap and hold the stem when it is cut (Fiskars' version is $20). Heavy-duty models are good for cutting tough fruit stems and small, non-woody branches ($15 to $25).
Thinning shears
Long, narrow blades characterize thinning shears, making them easy to maneuver among delicate plants. Think of them as refined flower shears ($10 to $25).
Grass shears
Small-scale gardeners who don't want to go electric still get down on their knees and trim grass by hand. Today's models are lightweight and designed with more comfortable grips ($12 to $20).
Hedge shears
Hedge cutters have long bypass blades, ten inches long or more, and handles that are about 1 foot long. Shearing a substantial hedge is tiring, so choose shears carefully. Although longer blades cut more per snip, they add weight. Look for shock-absorbing handles and for models designed with wavy blades that cut and hold branches ($25 to $60).
Saws
When it comes to big jobs, retire your loppers and pruners and get out a saw: For most branches more than two inches thick, a saw is required—and not just any saw. Saws designed for garden use are the only ones that don't gum up when you cut green wood.
Pruning saws
A lightweight pruning saw is probably all you'll need. Be absolutely sure that you buy one with a tri-cut blade. (Tri-cut blades are also sold as "turbo-cut," "razor-tooth," "Japanese-tooth," "tri-edged," and "three-sided.") All tri-cut blades cut on the pull stroke. This modern tooth design makes sawing far easier and faster, and cuts so smoothly that the wood feels like it's been sanded. A threee-inch blade is ideal for most work and will cut limbs up to 10 inches.
Tri-cut pruning saws are available with either straight or curved blades. (Curved blades are good for close work and for jobs that are shoulder level or higher.) Tri-cut blades are tricky to sharpen, so pick a model with replaceable blades and one that has a cushioned handle. Prices run $30 to $65. Pruning saws with traditional blades are much cheaper, but don't be tempted.
For small jobs, there are tri-cut pruning saws that fold like a pocketknife. A seven-inch blade is a practical size, easy to carry in a deep pocket ($25).
Coarse-tooth saws
If you have many big sawing jobs, you may need a coarse-tooth saw, something that will slice through branches and trunks up to 18 inches. These saws come with D-handles and blades between 20 and 26 inches long. (Models with the teeth pointing forward cut on the push stroke; saws with the teeth pointing backward cut as you pull.) If you need a saw this big, look for one with a tri-cut blade. Corona's 21-inch model is $55.
Bow saws
The bow saw is the choice of many new gardeners. Its replaceable blade in a C-shaped frame seems like a logical choice, and it's cheap ($15). But it's a tool for the woodpile, not the landscape.
Pole saws
The name gives it away: a saw mounted on the top of a pole. It's not an essential tool but occasionally a useful one when you don't want to climb a ladder (and if you pick a tri-cut blade, a very useful one). Large blades get very expensive, but a 13-inch saw with grip (you supply the pole) is about $45.
Knives
Many gardeners swear by the clean cut of a sharp pruning knife, but I'll never forget the owner of a small seed company who sliced into a 'Purple Marker' potato—and into his own hand. He showed more color than he intended. Pruning knives are dangerous and have little advantage over good pruning shears. For other knife-cutting jobs, a good-quality pocketknife with a carbon steel blade will do.
One category of cutting tools beyond the scope of this chapter is power tools. String trimmers, electric- and gas-powered shears, and chain saws are becoming lighter and more convenient. They have their place—whether it's at your place is up to you.
Cheryl Dorschner is an award-winning columnist for the Burlington Free Press and a contributor to Vermont Life magazine. She gardens on two acres, where she maintains perennial beds and starts more than 100 varieties of unusual annual flowers and vegetables from seed each year.