Best pruning shears? Or am I in the wrong Forum? :)

[onekerf]

I got a pair of Felco # 2 Pruners about 20 years ago. In addition to use around the yard, I used them while working for a professional landscaper (who also used the same model) for a couple of years. When the pruners would get gunked up with sap, we'd clean them off with brake fluid. Wore them on my belt with a leather Felco holster. They were and are a pleasure to use; they exemplify the phrase "having the right tool for the job". Perhaps a little pricey to some, but well worth it (buy once, cry once). And spare parts are available for them. I have little doubt that other products in their line are of equal quality.

 

[frank303]

I have been using Felco #2 for the past 5 or 6 years. I bought the Felco 910 holster and 903 diamond sharpener at the same time so as to keep them at hand and keep them sharp.

As pruning shear go The Felcos aren;t that expensive. There are pruning shears which are a few hundred dollars e.g. Tobisho Hiryu.
Over the life of the product the Felcos work out really good value. Cheaper than many good tools for other trades.


Positives
They give a good cut.
They are nice and easy to maintain
Most (if not all) parts are interchangeable and parts are readily available.
They are super sharp I've had the tips off most of my pulps when chopping bundles of stems for the compost heap In such situations do wear a robust glove on your non cutting hand (though I've chopped though gloves too, damned presbyopia (longsightedness).)

Negatives
The closure does tend to lock closed periodically.
The handle doesn't have a concave depression so if chopping a lot of material one's hands move toward the blade and one loses leverage which is annoying and gives the flexor muscles in the forearm a good workout. That can get painful after a while and for me with nerve damage in my neck and arms it become unbearable after a while. The ergonomic models #7. #8 I understand addressed that but looking at their range they still appear to have bi-convex handles The line of the cutting space in the ergonomic ones align with the line of the extended arm.

910 Holster
The leather of the holster is good, full grain leather. It's tough and cleans and waxes well. I gave it a food few treatments before venturing out the house with it. Since I bought the holster they released a 910 plus with an outboard loop which I think takes the sharpener.
I haven;t tried the conical holster The joint bolt tends to catch on the leather in the 910 maybe less of a problem on the conical ones. In North America there are holsters which aren;t made here e.g. 930.

903 Diamond Sharpener
The diamond sharpener is good. It's of a form that one can get into the whole lenght of the blade assembled. It's handy I use it to sharpen penknives, kitvhen knives and other gasrden tools. I don;t know the grit. I e-mailed Felco to enquire bu had no response. I them e-mailed the distributor and all they replied was it's diamond. Unfortunately it doesn't have a lanyard hole so it can be easily mislaid.

Japanese Brands
I know a few professional horticulturalists who's got so annoyed with the sporadic catching of the catch that they've changed to Japanese solid forged pruning shears e.g. Niwaki, Okatsune, Tobisho. Their catches are at the proximal end of the handles, don;t latch up and can be opened/closed against one's body. They use various from (not in order) Yasugi YCS-3 Carbon Steel, white paper steel, blue paper steel KA70 carbon steel, S58C carbon steel, Hitachi Yasugi high carbon steel. The vendor I used is transparent about the steels used.
There is a waiting list for some models as they are hand forged. There are videos from some of the forges if you too like watching that sort of thing.

They are unfortunately designed more for the Japanese smaller hand, though some brands have introduced larger sizes for the Western hand e.g Tobisho A large . If they are a first pair of pruning shears one wouldn't notice but if moving from a pair of full size Western shears used daily for years it takes a bit of getting used to.

I bought a pair of Tobisho SR-1 They are half an inch or so shorter than my Felco #2 and seem small at first. I haven't unwrapped them because I was going to do a video comparing Felco and Japanese brands, which will be my first Youtube video and maybe earn a few pennies / cents back on my purchase. My video production course doesn't start until February and I'm hesitant to spend out on lighting, microphony at this time.

One negative I've noticed is that they tarnish quite badly. Some have a brass nut on a steel bolt and body. From the schoolboy electrochamistry I remember brass on steel speeds up corrosion of the steel. Colour me cynical but in otherwise highly durable tools is that to get repeat business?

 

[frank303]

So, some updates:

I have received the Jakoti, they are very nice and cut really well. Not good for woody stuff, but wonderful for perennials, grass etc.
The steel is Carbon Steel and it rusts VERY quickly.
They MUST be cleaned and dried every single day, and oiled regularly.
They look gorgeous, and there is aholster which can be ordered separately.
In EU the best thing is order directly from the producer.

About the Pruners, I have noticed that there is NOT one which I like for everything.
The ARS are very good but they tend to get stuck quicker when you cut some plants which tend to immediately get glued on the blade (like Prunus Laurocerasus).
The Felco do not do that. I suspect it is becuse of the form of the lower blade.

I still did not find the right snips.
I am not sure if I want something with stainless steel (I have read that it lose sharp quicker than a carbon steel?).
So I have to decide if buying something cheaper like the classical ARS 300ss and Okatsune 307, or something with a more expensive stainless steel.
I suppose that as I already have the pruners I will just buy the cheaper Carbon Steel one. Probably Okatsune.

I forgot to mention on the pruners there are Felco clones. I have a pair of the two handed Darlac (clone of the 13 bypass). They aren't so smooth to operate. Now the blade is thicker on the Darlac than my Felco 2 (3.0mm v 2.5mm) and the bottom anvil of the Darlac has less material and the Darlacs have had plant tissue stuck between the two blades which normally shouldn't happen unless one has a blunt blade, the joint isn't tightened or one has sharpened the inside of the bypass blade. The keeper catch needed filing to it seated in the close position, so clearly some manufacturing tolerances were off.

I have a pair of Jakotis. Those and my Felco #2 I keep on my tool belt as they get loads of daily usage (detailing on lawns, hedges, shrubs, hard prune on geraniums, chopping up handfuls of comfrey bocking leaves and bundles of semi ripe stems for the compost).
They sharpen up well, do show slight corrosion quickly so need daily cleaning and oiling but oh boy are they handy.
There are similar (sheep shear) form factor shears which are cheaper but they have a less substantial weld between the handle and blades.
The one thing I think could be improved is the joint pin / rivet with something a bit more substantial. The holster in red, well I don't have red leather wax and when trying to pull the tool out the holster doesn't stay in place to the the capacious thin belt loop and the holster rides up jamming the shears in the holster. There's a tan holster available at some vendors but only with the tool as a gift set.

I'm thinking of Tobisho Topiary clippers or Tobisho Barracuda clippers for when I retire the Jakotis but I'd like to see them in person before spending that much. It'll be quite a few years yet.

I ordered Tobisho Pro snips a couple of months back (significant birthday present to myself) but there's a waiting list and it looks like delivery will be October or November.