Pruners

Where would we all be without our pruners?  We get the answer to that seemingly innocuous question when we lose them, and it ain't pretty.  We struggle to keep our nature-lovers' serenity but we feel adrift in the garden without our main tool.

I'd been existing in this lost state for months until recently my Felco #2 (on the left) turned up on my front-porch chair, returned by a neighbor who'd found it. Thank you! While it was lost I'd cheaped out and bought a Corona (right) which is at least another bypass type, the kind I love, and this one supposedly cuts through even thicker branches.  Well, fugedaboutit. The hand grips didn't feel right and the locking mechanism caught when I didn't want it to.  I'd already promised myself to stay loyal to my first and best love in pruners - Felco - when the cheap substitute fell apart after its fifth outing.  Guess I didn't save any money after all.

But here's another confession.  That gray-looking stuff on the Felco's red handles is cement.  Oh yeah, I've been using it with wet cement on my hands, a clear case of tool abuse.  And after it'd served me loyally all those years.

I had to get that off my chest.

Comments

[zoey]

Felco? I am going to have to google that. I have only a cheap pair that is constantly locking up on me. I think it is time I get a good pair!

[Takoma Gardener]

Thanks, Zoey. I just added a link.

[Amy Stewart]

Are you compulsive about keeping yours sharpened? I've gone years without sharpening mine. I wish I was one of those "spend the winter months sharpening, cleaning, oiling, and organizing your tools" people, but as it is I can barely get the dirt out from under my nails...

[Pam L]

I love my pruners. I never go into the yard or garden without them and they stay on my kitchen counter (since I have no potting shed, or any kind of a shed), all year long. Mine are Coronas but they weren't cheap and don't look like yours. They fit perfectly in my hand and I can unhook the lock wiht a flick of my thumb. The handles on mine look more like your Felcos than your Coronas. Very comfprtable. Pruning is therapy for me.

[Alice]

Yes, Felcos seem to be the go, although my husband's Felcos lock every time I use them. Perhaps he trained them to do that so that I will always use my own. I also have another pair of secateurs with a ratchet mechanism which is wonderful for cutting through larger branches - it's so easy with no wrist strain at all. I used to sharpen mine on the grindstone until Richard reminded me that we had a proper diamond sharpener just made for the job. Like a small file but not as rough. I love using sharp secateurs but I do dreadful things to my hands with them. Every time I walk into the house and make a beeline for the cupboard, Richard asks "What have you cut now?"

[andrea]

I'm happy you found your Felcos. My boyfriend bought me a pair once, which I lost not even a week later. I was accused of carelessness and told I'd never own a "good pair" of pruners again. I swore I'd put them away "properly" but thought I'd never live it down. Then we moved, and in packing, found the Felcos. Redemption!

[Takoma Gardener]

Amy, I clean and sharpen them when I'm forced to because they start performing badly. And Andrea and other potential Felco lovers, they're pretty reasonably priced on the link you see there. You can tell I'm pondering buting in bulk next time.