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Useful Pruning Tools
The right tools make pruning easy for you and for your trees and shrubs. Try these essentials: hand pruners, lopping shears, pruning saws, and pole pruners.
Essential Pruning Tools
Depending on the scope of your pruning project, you’ll need hand pruners, lopping shears, and hand pruning saws. For some larger tasks, it helps to have a pole pruning tool, power saws, and electric trimmers.
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All the pruning tools you’ll require are readily available at garden centers and home stores.
There are two basic types of hand pruners: bypass and anvil models.
Bypass pruners work like scissors, with two sharp blades that glide against each other. They make clean, smooth cuts.
Anvil pruners have one sharp blade that presses against a wide, flat blade, cutting and often crushing the branch being cut. Either type is suitable for cutting branches up to 1/2 in. (12 mm) in diameter. Most professionals use hand bypass pruning shears.
Lopping shears have extended handles, about 2 feet (60 cm) long. The handles increase leverage and allows easy cuts for branches as large as 1-1/2-in. (38-mm) in diameter.
To sever larger limbs, you’ll need a pruning saw. Straight-bladed and bow saws cut on both the push and the pull strokes. They make quick work of limbs up to 3 inches (75 mm) in diameter.
For larger limbs, consider a power reciprocating saw or a short-bar garden chainsaw.
Beyond the Basics
Large pruning projects are easier with the right tools. If your landscape and yard are large, consider additional pruning equipment.
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For high branches, a pole pruning tool is helpful. A pole pruner has both a shearing blade and a small saw at the end of a telescoping handle, giving a reach as high as 5–8 feet (1.5–2.4 m) above shoulder height.
Pole pruners are a must for pruning limbs that otherwise would be difficult to reach. Whenever you work with overhead limbs, be sure to wear eye-protection goggles, gloves, and a safety helmet.
If you have several hedges in your garden, a power hedge trimmer will prove useful.
Many models of power hedge trimmers are available, each with several blade choices: long or short, single or double sided, and with single or double—reciprocating—action.
Choose from power trimmers fueled by gasoline motors, electricity, or rechargeable batteries.
A reciprocating saw is another tool that is more handy than a chainsaw—and generally safer—for most homeowners.
Always wear protective gear—safety glasses, gloves, and ear plugs—when operating any power tools to protect you from safety and health hazards.
To keep your pruning tools in good shape, wipe their blades with a rag after every use.
Most gardeners also sterilize these tools to avoid spreading plant diseases around their yard. A wipe with alcohol or a dip into diluted household bleach does the trick.
At the end of each season, clean the blades with a solvent such as mineral oil, then apply a few drops of light lubricating oil to the blades and moving parts.
Sharpen bypass pruning shears with a moistened whetstone when needed, remembering to hone only the outside edge of the blades so that the inside surfaces will remain flat and glide closely against each another.
Tools and Equipment
for Pruning Trees and Shrubs
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