Secateurs

I agree Felco are great but I am the world's best at putting secateurs down and loosing them. The down side of having nearly 2 acres of garden! After having lost 3 expensive pairs I gave up and bought 3 cheepo ones from Aldi at about £5 a pair. I thought I wouldn't be too cross with myself at loosing these and of course haven't lost them once. For the price they really aren't that bad and do a job. I do however buy very expensive loppers as I have huge amounts needing lopped every year and need ones which will cut through tough branches, and need to be able to buy replacement blades when necessary. So if you are a careful gardener unlike me I'd look at Felco, if like me go for cheepos which do the job well enough.

 

My Felco no 6 have been going strong for about 30 years now. They are kept especially for taking cuttings, and soft stems. All the time they are kept for the right purpose they will last for ever - I used to use them at work for many years propagating shrubs at the nursery.
For rougher work like hedging and pruning I use cheaper ratchet pruners and loppers.

 

I always go for the lower price band secateurs , maybe not the cheapos but around the Wilkinson sword type of quality . Never cut over 1/2" with secateurs use your loppers for that size.

 

No, you misunderstand.

I implied that you should choose secateurs with steel handles over SSOs (Secateur Shaped Objects).

These SSOs are identified by their aluminium handles. Their primary purpose is to give the outward appearance of them being a useful tool but their actual function is to take up space in land fill - not unlike their distant cousin, the BSO.

I know of no other similar hand tools (pliers, side cutters, shears, scissors, bolt croppers, pincers, cable cutters, vice grips etc) that have alu handles other than them being SSOs.

The four that I broke were new items donated to our community garden by generous and well meaning local residents - they were not tools that I would have chosen myself.

 

I'm with Felco No 2 had a pair for 30 odd years. I also have a battered cheap pair 40+ years old that get used for cutting roots etc.
May well service them this afternoon as it's too wet underfoot and raining to do anything outside.

 

I use Felcos for general pruning - expensive but well worth the cost. I'm quite paranoid about letting anyone else use them and I'm careful about keeping them with me at all times when in the garden. Being red, they're easy to spot if I do lay them down.
For larger branches I have a Fiskars lopper and la Jardin France rachet secateurs and loppers. Useful to have two sets when I have help in the garden.

 

I agree - avoid aluminium handles - I recommend the cheapo Wilkinsons bypass secateurs they are all metal - no fancy handles - just yellow painted metal (I think they are from their 'functional' range).

I'd always go for anvil secateurs - for tough thick branches .

 

Thanks for all the advice, it's greatly appreciated

The largest branch I will be cutting will be about 10mm in diameter, so was hoping that secateurs would be adequate to do the job, especially as both bypass secateurs I was considering can supposedly cut up to 25mm, or is this 25mm figure overly optimistic?

I now need to decide whether to blow £40 on some lovely Felcos, or go for some middle of the road types ( Wilkinson Sword, Spear Jackson and the like ) and buy a pair of Bypass and Anvil secateurs.

 

If the secateurs are made from good quality materials then it will cut any organic material found in the garden up to and including the stated capacity.

For soft organic material such as vegetable stems and sunflower stems, 25mm is no problem for many secateurs.

For harder stuff like tree branches and bamboo poles, the blades will flex and tend to splay apart. The blades also tend to wedge into a cut groove if it is too thin.

One of my Wickes secateurs did manage one complete cut of a 25mm diameter sycamore branch before the handle cracked on a second cut.

Regarding the choice of secateurs, I would pay a bit more and go Japanese.


In fact, I've just ordered one of these:

Hidehisa YP200
Introduction


If the genuine article does turn up then I will update this thread with how it performs on:

1) Its max diameter tree branch cutting capacity;
2) Blue PE water tubing;
3) String;
4) Ergonomics and other metrics.

 

Just to add more confusion, I use these Okatsune Secateurs

To be fair, it’s only because it’s what we were handed at a firm I worked for. They are a pricey company but I have the shears too and can’t rate them enough. They will cut through anything! Plus they look pretty cool too I think?

 

The secateurs finally arrived about ten days after making the order.




The Wickes vs Hidehisa YP200


Upper blade (approx 4mm thickness), Lower blade (approx 5mm thickness)

 

The upper blade is razor sharp - it cuts 80gsm paper easily.


Cotton, Polypropylene & Jute string.


All can be cut with a single quick snip action if the string is brought in towards the valley formed by the two blades.

Sycamore branch, pear tree branch, 20mm blue PE water tubing & 13mm hose.



Pear tree branch (20mm diameter)


This was done with a two handed grip for added strength.

Maximum cutting capacity is 25mm but I didn't have any specimens available. To be able to cut this thickness of wood will require a bit technique as well as brute force.

Sycamore branch (12mm)



Overall, the YP200 is a high industrial quality hand tool and I like it very much.

There is no splaying of the blades due the drop forging process, grade of steel and thickness used. The simple and elegant two-piece design means that there is little to no flex at the handles either.

If there had to be complaints then I would level it at the finishing - just tad bit more of grinding and polishing at the logo surface and on the inside edges to preserve the flow of the curves would have made it perfect.