Three Tools Should Handle Pruning Needs

Pruning tools are leaving hardware stores by the hundreds. Perhaps this buying frenzy is the result of our recent ice storm, or perhaps it’s in anticipation of the first gardening chore of the new year: pruning.

For whatever reason, I, too, found myself standing in front of a wall of various loppers, saws and shears, trying to decide which tool would best serve my needs.

Tools should be light enough to handle, yet strong. Heavy tools can cause sore shoulders, arms and backs long before the pruning chores are finished. The only way to determine how a particular tool will handle is by trying it out. Take time to grip it, open it and close it. Does it feel comfortable?

Tools with brightly colored handles are much easier to find when they’re lost. Of course, not even a bright yellow handle stands a chance if it’s buried under a pile of debris.

Above all, tools need to be durable, able to stand up to ground-in dirt, an occasional bit of rust and sometimes neglect. They should be made of drop-forged steel, a hard, tough material that resists wear. Of course, all tools should be able to be disassembled and assembled easily for cleaning, sharpening and oiling. Never work with dull, dirty equipment. Dull blades crush and destroy living plant cells, and dirty blades can harbor diseases.

Of the hundreds of available pruning tools, how many do we really need, and which ones are they? For most gardeners, three tools should handle most pruning needs: hand clippers, loppers and a pruning saw. Hedge shears may also be required if you shear shrubs or vines.

Hand clippers are used to remove small branches and twigs up to 1/2-inch in diameter. They are invaluable for collecting bouquets of cut flowers, trimming away faded flowers and for removing live and dead twigs.

We have a choice of two types of clippers: anvil or by-pass.

Anvil pruners have a single-cutting top blade that strikes a wide, flat anvil of softer metal (usually brass). Eventually this soft metal may become nicked or grooved. If the top blade doesn’t meet up perfectly with the anvil, pruning cuts may be ragged and torn. If this happens, the only remedy may be to purchase a new anvil, which could be difficult to find.

By-pass pruners also have a single-cutting top blade. As this top blade cuts, it slides along a bottom hooked blade, resulting in a scissor action, which leaves a cleaner cut with less damage to plant cells and fibers.

Some clippers have thick grips or rotating grips for easy handling. Some are needle nosed for delicate pruning. Obviously, there are many choices.

Loppers are long-handled tools that work on the same principle as hand clippers. They are designed to cut through wood up to 1-1/2 inches in diameter. When working with loppers, try to open the jaws wide and start the cut as close as possible to the pivot, the place where the two blades meet. If you start the cut at this juncture, there will be less strain on the jaws, preventing possible torquing of the blades.

Hardwood handles are the best, especially those made of hickory or ash. Try to locate handles that are bolted onto the blades as opposed to handles that have been drilled and glued. Bolts allow you to repair the loppers with greater ease.

Hedge shears are used for trimming or shaping tender tips of plant material. They either have straight blades or wavy blades. Though wavy blades have a longer cutting surface and tend to gather more material to be cut, they require special sharpening equipment.

Don’t waste your money on hedge shears with a special notch on the blade for cutting larger limbs. The notch is usually too far from the pivot point for easy cutting. What the hedge shears won’t cut, cut with hand clippers.

Hedge shears with a ball-bearing pivot are the easiest shears on the hands and arms.

Pruning saws - and there are literally dozens to choose from - should be able to handle wood up to 3 inches in diameter. They are different from a regular carpenter’s saw. Pruning saws not only have cutting teeth, but they also have alternating raker teeth that clean sawdust out of the cut. A carpenter’s saw is fine on dead wood, but it would soon be bound up with damp sawdust from live wood.

We use three pruning saws: A bow saw for large cuts, a large folding saw with large teeth and a small folding saw with small teeth for hard-to-reach, smaller branches.

There can be a lot of money invested in garden tools, but they can last a lifetime if they are of good quality and are properly maintained.

, DataTimes MEMO: Phyllis Stephens is a horticulture consultant and landscape designer in Spokane.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Phyllis Stephens The Spokesman-Review