Good bypass pruners

[mechcsu]

I bought a pair of Fiskars bypass pruners over the weekend because I had a gift card to a big box store. They were $22 and probably couldn't even cut through warm butter...very disappointing cutting edge.

After a quick search it appears Felco is the top of the heap in quality but also price. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good quality pair somewhere in between the Fiskars and Felco price points. I found TONMA for $29 made in Japan....

 

[Wolley]

Corona is good.

 

[CHI_Tool&Die]

My Bahco pruners have been pretty awesome. They are made in France and come in a variety of snip and handle sizes. You can even get some that have a rotating handle. I think they were around $30-$60 depending on size.

Bought from these guys. They seem like good people and I’ve had good luck ordering from them.

 

[neophyte]

The Bahco are sometimes rated well.
I think you may even be able to purchase repair/replacement parts for the Bahco loppers, but nowhere near as easily as with Felco loppers.

There are plenty of knockoffs of the Felco design since it’s pretty much one of the standards.

 

[marak]

Felco made in Switzerland all the way. Be ready to pay the price, but the dang things work beautifully and are worth it!

Seems like Fiskars have all caved to the big box store low quality requirement, so I don't even consider that brand anymore. Shame, really.

 

[mobiledynamics]

I'd go Felco. I dunno if they stopped making it in all sizes, but I have 3 loppers in their *forged handle lineup*. It's all one piece very light and balanced...

Their smallest one I know is not being made as I wanted to gift this to someone.

 

[Shiftless]

Another vote for Felco. Why fool around trying to save 10-20 bucks on a tool that if properly cared for will last for many years. The quality and ease of use will pay off every time you snip a branch. I keep my 2 pairs clean, sharp, and oiled. Some models feature replaceable blades if damage occurs. Don’t loan them out. Somebody will lose them in the mud or try to cut wire with ‘em.

 

[timgunn1962]

Over here, the folk who use these things professionally tend to go for either Felco or one of the Japanese manufacturers.

It is worth noting that they need to fit your hand: simply buying whatever someone else recommends is not a good approach, however much you trust their judgement, in the same way as buying a pair of size 4 Merrell walking boots because my wife finds them brilliant would be completely inappropriate for me with my size 13 feet.

Somehow, you need to get your hands on a variety and see what works for you.

For home use, I went for a pair of Japanese ones in the second-largest size I tried. They were slightly cheaper than the most comfortable pair of Felcos I tried (there are several different models), though the cost wasn't one of the selection criteria.

It was an expensive shopping trip: I bought mine, a similar but smaller Japanese pair for the wife, a pair of something straight-bladed and Japanese-made for cutting flowers (floristry shears? I was losing the will to go on by that stage) and a Left-Handed pair of French manufacture for my son.

I'd fully expected to be leaving with Felcos, having had Felco C7 cable cutters for 30-odd years and not encountering anything to approach them. It was interesting to try a variety and understand how important the fit is.

 

[timgunn1962]

Learn to sharpen whatever you get. Look after them as well as you can. If you can't be arsed sharpening and looking after them, just buy a really cheap pair every year.

 

[mobiledynamics]

I misread your post until Tim went into a detailed post. You're not looking for a larger Lopper.

It's subjective but I tend to gravitate towards a smaller Felco or ARS with the -rotating handle-. Many don't like this style I think. I dunno, it's comfy for me. If I'm doing either really thin canes or really -thick canes- I tend to err on tobisho's for the fine or heavy work

But for most task, I reach for the rotating handle telco or ars. Gotta try those if you never have. I like those alot

 

[neophyte]

The rotating hand loppers are a love it or hate it thing.
I used a Felco pair once, and found the rotating handle design awkward.
Personally, I prefer the newer aluminum handle Felco design that lacks the finger grooves.
For maintenance, I would just spray the hand loppers down with the Felco F980 “Tool Lubricant” .
It really depends on how much you need to use the loppers, but I think I went several or more years without even bothering to resharpen or regrease the pivot bolt on the Felco loppers.

 

[Shiftless]

Felco pruners come in a variety of sizes and styles. Go to a serious vendor and go for a test drive with several different ones to find the one that fits the best. If you have friends or co workers who like Felco see if you can drop by with a few beers and try theirs out.

It‘s important to keep pruners sharpened. No matter what brand you have, sharp ones work WAY better. Get a little sharpening stone and use it. As far as lubricant goes, IMHO, you don’t need Felco branded lube.

 

[mobiledynamics]

The rotating hand loppers are a love it or hate it thing.

On the opposite analogy, I have a slew of Cobras and Plier Wrenches. I Do LOVE the Offset Plier Wrench.
But I tend to gravitate and grab the channellocks over the above as it just -works in my hands better
It's subjective like knives . Gotta hand try these things vs blind buy

 

[rlitman]

I have two Felco F-8 pruners, and they're good. But I don't think they're all that much better than the F-2, and the real-deal F-2 pruners aren't all that much better than many of their Asian clones.

My favorite are my Stihl PP80. Like all of the Stihl hand pruners, they're made by ARS in Japan. I also own the 7' long Stihl PP100 as well as the ARS LA-160ZR203 telescoping cut&hold pruner (and another 2' ARS cut&hold I use for my roses). These three all bring a smile to my face when I use them. Felco, not so much.

The catch is this. Felco's blade tension system uses a nut and a locking piece that prevents the nut from turning. ARS uses a bolt threaded into the opposite blade and a jam nut. The Felco system is very easy to return to the correct tension after separating the blades. The ARS system is rock solid, but make take a few minutes of trial and error to get the tension adjustment right.

But Fiskars aren't total ****. If you're struggling with them, I think you'd want a decent pair of loppers before you upgrade your hand pruners. For woody stuff, get anvil (not bypass) loppers. Go with a compound action and anything they can't eat needs a saw.

 

[Tennessee Cattleman]

I use loppers a lot on the farm and have been impressed by the Bahco Professional Bypass Loppers with round aluminum handles. They are made in France.

 

[mobiledynamics]

This is the GJF forum after all. Any of you guys have a Lowe in your stash

 

[slowtwitch73]

This Old Tony just did a great vid on pruners....

 

[Treeman]

If we are talking about hand pruners and not long handle loppers, you might check out A.M Leonard as their "Leonard" offerings are knock offs of Felco.

 

[toolz]

Felco. Sizes and left-handed available. Felco.

 

[American Locomotive]

 

[F-22]

Felco is nice. Their competitior in Europe is Löwe from Germany, I think they're a lot less known in the US but they're very good too. However, also just as pricey.

What's in the middle? ARS from Japan. It's basically Felco/Löwe quality for ~half the cost. From amazon.co.jp with shipping and taxes they'd cost me ~35€ while Felco and Löwe are in the 55-65€ range here.

Even for professionals, the difference between Felco and ARS is highly debatable. For home use, they're as good as it gets.

Those battery powered ones are cool - but they really scare me! They would go through your hand like butter. ThisoldTony used the ones with generic batteries, but you can get the same pruners that accept Makita 18V matteries. Even if you don't own Makita tools or batteries, that's probably a way better purchase (cause if you buy a chinese makita battery, you can also buy any real or chinese makita tool and also use it, while "proprietary" chinese batteries won't have other uses.

 

[Retroman]

Got my wife a pair of ARS and she was initially pissed I spent that much until she used them.
There not that expensive for what they are.

 

[rlitman]

...Even for professionals, the difference between Felco and ARS is highly debatable. For home use, they're as good as it gets.

Those battery powered ones are cool - but they really scare me!...

Well, I pointed out some differences above. Here's another. ARS has a far superior hard chrome finish on their blades. It doesn't gum up with sap/resin as much as the Felco bare steel does, and cleans more easily. For that, I highly recommend Stihl hedge trimmer spray cleaner. It's an expensive can, but I haven't used up the can I bought 15 years ago, and the stuff works great. I also prefer the spring lock on the ARS. The Felco thumb locks are always troublesome for me.

I've got a pneumatic powered pruner. Yeah, quite scary. It hardly ever comes out.

 

[RTM]

I buy all the used Corona and Felco I find at Garage sales etc. my sister works as a propagated, and uses Felco. Her boss sharpens hers weekly.

We have a pair of ratcheting pruners that the wife loves, as they require less hand strength, but the ratchet gets a little wonky.

 

[Bubba Fett]

I have some Corona shears and loppers that are decent. They have the extendable handles, which is a useless gimmick. While it does increase the range, the angle of the handles remains the same, making them too wide to comfortably use in many cases. They are also very rust-prone, though that is fixable. The blades have stood up fairly well.

Fiskars at one time made decent tools, but their stuff is basically the same generic Chinese **** that last one season now. I'm convinced that the big box stores don't want to sell long lasting tools because they want to keep their customers coming back to rebuy the same **** in a different package.

I may see if I can re-handle my Corona shears, since they are not that comfortable, regardless of length. I have some old Craftsman shears that I found in a "juntique" store for a few dollars. They need some work, but they seem to be high quality. No doubt a rebrand.

 

[mechcsu]

Thanks for all the great information!

 

[Steve_P]

I have a Felco lopper, and hand pruner, both Swiss made. They were expensive, but not insanely so IMO, at least when I bought them. When you compare them to what a pair of Knipex pliers' cost, I don't find the pricing out of line. I have a spare blade set for each and swap them out when needed, and then sharpen when I have time.

 

[Monte]

www.bergertools.com



www.gardena.com

www.wolf-garten.com



www.vescoitaly.it

 

[Shiftless]

ARS makes great pruners. I bought an extended pruner tool from them. It’s great for fine tuning your decorative pruning jobs up to about 8 feet without climbing a ladder. It’s safer and faster too, Money well spent.
I have my Felco hand pruners and my ARS for extending my reach. With that tool I can get inside larger Japanese Maples where it is impossible to get my arm into. The head swivels so you can attack the branch from the optimum angle. Deluxe pruners at a deluxe price but to me it’s worth it.

 

[confidant]

Keep them Clean !!
and if you can, sharp!
Sap fouls them up, right quick!

 

[F-22]

Fiskars at one time made decent tools, but their stuff is basically the same generic Chinese **** that last one season now.

I think it depends on what. I heard their scissors are still great. I have many old axes but was recently gifted a Fiskars splitting axe and am very happy with it.

www.gardena.com

Don't know the rest, but while Gardena are "okay" quality, I think they're overpriced for what you get! Popular cause they're a solid brand sold in all hardware stores in Europe, but you can get much better quality with something like ARS...

 

[Monte]

Don't know the rest, but while Gardena are "okay" quality, I think they're overpriced for what you get! Popular cause they're a solid brand sold in all hardware stores in Europe, but you can get much better quality with something like ARS...

Maybe the higher priced Gardenas are also better ? I dunno.
I only own Felco + Löwe

 

[slowtwitch73]

I'd have to own a vinyard... or some other 'grow operation' to need to tool up like that....

 

[F-22]

I'd have to own a vinyard... or some other 'grow operation' to need to tool up like that....

Nah, just get the tools, you know you need them!

 

[Monte]

I'd have to own a vinyard... or some other 'grow operation' to need to tool up like that....

it´s never too late....

 

[Bazsm]

My Bahco pruners have been pretty awesome. They are made in France and come in a variety of snip and handle sizes. You can even get some that have a rotating handle. I think they were around $30-$60 depending on size.

Bought from these guys. They seem like good people and I’ve had good luck ordering from them.

I bought a set of Bahco pruners recently, lovely quality and very smooth to use. Thinking about getting the wife the smallest size as they’re very comfortable and easy to cut

 

[slowtwitch73]

it´s never too late....

Maybe both.

 

[giles45shop]

My pruning tools definitely have an international flavor

Felco #2 Hand Pruner (Switzerland)
Bahco Praline P19-80 Lopper (France)
Silky Zubat Hand Saw (Japan)

I would fully recommend all of them. Pretty much a buy once, cry once scenario. Interestingly, the leather Felco holster is made in USA