Bypass, anvil or ratchet? Choosing a pruner

Choosing a pruner

Standing in front of a rack of pruners working out which one will not chew your roses or fold up on a thick branch is a genuinely reasonable thing to find confusing, because they all look much the same and the labels do not explain the difference. There are only three kinds that matter though, and once you know what each one is doing at the cutting end it stops being a guess.

Bypass, and this is the one most people want

A bypass pruner works like a pair of scissors, with a curved blade that slides past a thicker hook. Because the two edges pass each other, the cut is clean on both sides and the stem is not crushed, and that matters on anything living because a crushed stem heals badly and lets disease in.

If you are buying one pruner for a home garden, buy a bypass. Roses, soft stems, green growth, fruit trees and general tidying are all bypass jobs.

Anvil, for wood that is already dead

An anvil pruner has a single blade that comes down onto a flat bar, so it splits rather than slices. That gives you more force for the effort, which is useful on dry dead wood, and it crushes anything green, which is why using one on a live shrub leaves squashed ends that die back.

Worth owning as a second pair if you do a lot of clearing out. Not the one to buy first.

Ratchet, for thick stems and tired hands

A ratchet pruner lets you cut in stages instead of in one squeeze, so the mechanism holds your progress while you reposition your grip. It multiplies what your hand can do, and for anyone with arthritis, a weak grip or a lot of cutting to get through in one go it is the difference between finishing the job and giving up halfway.

They are slower on light work. Most people who own one also own a bypass for the quick jobs.

What to check before you buy

Pick it up and squeeze it. This is the whole test and you can only do it in person. If it feels wide in your hand when it is open, it will hurt after 20 minutes. Smaller hands are better off with a compact model rather than a full-size one, and a lot of unhappy pruner owners simply bought a tool sized for somebody else.

The cutting capacity. It is on the packaging in millimetres and it is the maximum, not the comfortable working size. Something rated to 20mm will handle 20mm of soft green growth and struggle with 20mm of dry hardwood. If you are regularly cutting above that, you want loppers or a pruning saw instead, and forcing a pruner past its capacity is how the blades get sprung.

Whether you can replace the parts. Blades dull and springs get lost. A pruner with a replaceable blade and spring is worth a bit more up front because it stays useful for years, and a sealed one becomes rubbish the day something wears out.

A non-slip grip and a catch you can work one-handed. You will be holding a branch with the other hand, so a safety catch that needs two hands to release is an annoyance you will feel every single time.

Keeping them cutting

A blunt pruner does the same damage as an anvil pruner on live wood, and most pruners people describe as useless are just blunt. Wipe the sap off the blade after you finish, because dried sap is what makes the action stiff and pulls the blade off line. A rag and a bit of lubricant does it.

Touch the edge up on a sharpening stone every so often, working only on the bevelled side of the blade and leaving the flat side alone. A few strokes regularly beats a big effort once a year.

Store them dry. A pruner left out in a garden bed over winter is a pruner you replace in spring.

Cleaning between plants

If you are cutting out something diseased, wipe the blades before you move to the next plant. It takes a few seconds and it stops you carrying a problem around the garden on the tool you are using to fix it.

Shop related products

• Supercraft Combination Bench Sharpening Stone. For touching up a pruner blade on the bevelled side.
• Boston PML-Plus 4 in 1 Lube 360g. Keeps the pivot moving and the sap from gumming it up.
• Brunnings White Oil RTU 1L. For the scale and aphids you find once you have opened a plant up.
• Boiled Linseed Oil 1L. For timber handles on the rest of the garden tools.
• Multicrop EcoPest Oil Insect Spray. A softer option on a plant you have just pruned.

Did you know we keep the pruners themselves in the shop rather than online, including bypass, anvil and ratchet anvil types, bypass secateurs and curved and folding pruning saws. We also run a tool sharpening depot, and saw blades and planer blades both go through it. Give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what is on the shelf or to ask about sharpening.

The rest of the range is in our garden centre and our hand tools.

Keep reading

• The tools a new gardener actually needs
• How do I use a post hole shovel?
• When a garden pest is worth spraying, and when it is not

My honest advice is to come in and hold a few of them, which is also my excuse for owning four pairs.

Candeece
Strathalbyn H Hardware