Can anyone give me some advice on buying a new pair of loppers? Mine have just bitten the dust and there seem to be infinite different kinds to choose from.
I want some that i can use for as many things as possible!
When faced with all these on typing in loppers - i got a bit lost!
Thanks PG
I have an assortment. The heavy duty anvil type come in handy on heavy work but your arms tire quickly. I have some medium weight anvil ones too. Mostly I use light weight by-pass loppers, I like the ones made by Fiskars, they permit you to work for hours with no strain at all. Go to fiskars.com
I like the18" one:
"brooklyn1" wrote in news:khOZl.1314$ snipped-for-privacy@nwrddc02.gnilink.net:
i like the Fiskars loppers & pruners, but i have 3 Craftsman loppers as well. if Dearly Beloved breaks the Craftsman loppers (which he has done at least twice), they get replaced free under the Craftsman lifetime warrantee. lee
I knew a guy a few years ago (15 ~ 20) that heated his house with the wood strips from the logging process. He used a regular skill saw to cut to length. Seem to recall he was frequently getting a new craftsman saw.
Bill who likes Felco tools
14 years ago I got a $8 pair of Stanley loppers from Big Lots. It has a rachet mechanism that can cut through 2" diameter branches. I would not go cheap with hand pruners, though.
Stanley tools may have been good 14 years ago, but that is no longer the case. Almost every tool I've broken in the last three years was a Stanley. The exception is a set of Fiscars tree trimmers. It was part metal and part plastic, and the plastic part broke ten feet up in my apple tree. Now it sits bon my garage floor, broken and twisted, waiting for me to throw it in the trash. Today, Stanley and Fiscars is on my list of manufactures to not buy from. What is a good brand these days?
I can't recommend a brand. Mine are so old, I don't remember the brand. However, I can recommend some characteristics.
Get wooden handles. They will flex more than metal handles and thus be easier on your hands, arms, and shoulders.
Get a blade-and-hook (bypass) type instead of a blade-and-anvil. The bypass type is less likely to mash a branch when cutting it and might be slightly easier to sharpen than a blade-and-anvil type.
Don't bother with loppers that have a fancy lever mechanism to increase the force of the blade. Any branch that requires such force should really be cut with a pruning saw.
I have some Fiskars that have compound gear jaws, and I'm amazed at what they will cut. Had to cut some weeping mulberry branches today, and they did 1 1/4" branches with no strain. I have several wood handled and metal handled models in the shed that have broken handles. The Fiskars have one piece construction, and if anyone can break one, I'd like to watch. A little spendy, but I have one pair that work all the time, and all the other wounded wimps hang on hooks in the shed. Woulda been a lot of money ahead if I had bought the one right lopper in the first place. Do you know how hard it is to repair a pair of wooden handled loppers? I don't even know where to look for new handles. Metal not so much as I have a wirefeed welder. Still, a hassle to have to fix something that's SUPPOSED to cut branches for a living.
Steve
tinyurl.com/lbbjos
Old ones, flea market or yard sale, $5.00 or thereabout. Old steel is usually higher quality. Touch them up with a file and they'll very likely be better than new.
Nonsense. Loppers should cut with little to no resistance or you're using the wrong size/type tool... there should be zero spring back. The best loppers have solid one piece steel construction... and the fiberglass handled loppers are too heavy. Get the right size/type loppers for the job
The quality anvil loppers have removable blades, very easily and inexpensively replaced. Bypass loppers are often ruined by cutting over sized branches which causes them to spring. Get the right size/type loppers for the job.
Nonsense. The ratchet mechanisms make the work practically effortless.
More nonsense, a hand saw is not practical for removing wood for hours, and most lopping is for removing dead wood or limbing felled trees/branches so careful neat cuts are not necessary. When I go out to spend a day trimming I carry a bow saw, a pole saw/pruner, and loppers... I've learned to take the lightest tools possible that will do the job, carrying tools around all day even small tools get heavy. Hardly a week passes that I don't spend at least half a day clearing brush/tree limbs, I have miles of hedgerow and forest paths to keep cut back.
There is no such thing as one pair of loppers for every job. There are many considerations; diameter of wood, is it live or dead, reach distance (here's where the ratchet really comes in handy, gives more power by multiplying leverage, shorter loppers are much more convenient and far less tiring), and most important is how long will the job take (even small loppers become heavy), use the smallest, lightest, shortest loppers that will do the job. I have various brand loppers of different types/sizes; Sears, Ace, Lee Valley, bypass, and anvil... I have at least a dozen, I keep them at different locations on my property to save steps. The long heavy fiberglass anvil type with the hook are practically useless, all they do is make you fatigued... try holding a 30' long six pound tool at arms length, you'll be pooped in less than ten minutes. Wooden handles require care even if you don't use them, and still they eventually loosen/split, and no one sells wooden lopper handles so all you can do is put them in the trash. Of all the loppers I have by far my favorite is a Fiskars, nothing else compares... I have a Fiskars pole pruner-saw too, an excellent tool. Naturally if you only need to trim one or two branches a year then you don't need to own any loppers, just borrow your neighbors. LOL
I've got 2 types. One has an elongated single hande with a slightly curved blade for sawing on one side, and the rope operated bypass lopper on the other.
The other is a bypass as well, 2 handles, similar to hedge shears in appearance and operation. Wooden handle. Takes 2 hands to operate. Got it at Ace Hardware.
I've got many live oaks on my 5 acres. I used the former type to reach high and lop off the branches that typically die as they can't find sun on those that I maintain. The saw for those that I want to cut closer to its orginating branch, and for those a bit too thick for the lopper end. It has a fiberglas handle.. Think I got it at Ace Hardware about 4 years ago.
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