I can't find mine. I'm thinking about buying a new pair to use. Stihl sells some made in U.S.A. ones at my local Ace Hardware. Does anybody know of the cheapest U.S. made Loppers with the largest throat for cutting limbs?
I don't need the ratcheting mechanisms. Those are like ice boxes in a refrigerator to me - just an additional thing to break first. Compound would be fine, but old fashioned single blade styles are fine with me.
Stihl hand cutters are not USA made. The hand pruners are made by ARS in Japan (still, IMNSHO, they're the best you can get in the world). I forget who makes their loppers right now, but they are excellent. If you buy it Stihl branded, you get Stihl's lifetime warranty.
What exactly are you cutting? Dry wood? Green wood? What size limbs?
Felco, Bahco, Corona, are about the only brands to buy. And wood above 1" is better cut with a saw than a lopper. A saw produces a better cut and faster healing of the wound. Read up on proper pruning cuts.
Jameson makes my choice of pole saws (and pole pruners). There's also Silky.
Felco makes an excellent hand pruner, but they're not as far ahead of the clones at a tenth of the price to make the real ones worthwhile in my opinion. Corona is not what it used to be. Bahco and Sandvik both make excellent tools in Europe still.
I prefer an anvil lopper for wood, or a saw for dead wood that's gone crunchy. NONE of the above companies make a good anvil lopper that I've seen. They all make bypass loppers, which are what you want when you need a clean cut across something green, but bypass is not that great on actual wood. For that,
I'd suggest a Seymour anvil lopper. This same mechanism (and I believe OEM) is sold as Craftsman (if you can find it), and Ace branded (Ace is nice, because anything with their name on it carries the Ace lifetime warranty), plus several others.
