Loppers for Brushing

I keep a Fiskars PowerGear lopper in my truck. I suppose I could muscle it through a 2" branch if I had to, but it's better suited to smaller limbs. It does require a very wide hand spread in order to accept the larger limbs, which can be a problem in tight spots.

> I keep a Fiskars PowerGear lopper in my truck. I suppose I could muscle it through a 2" branch if I had to, but it's better suited to smaller limbs. It does require a very wide hand spread in order to accept the larger limbs, which can be a problem in tight spots.

That's the impressive feature of the ratchet loppers I bought. They cut well in areas where the handle travel is confined, but also cut through small limbs and trunks with one stroke, which is not the case with some ratcheting designs.

I have two pair of the Power Gear loppers; one in the truck and one in the shed. I'll say this for Fiskars - besides producing good to excellent products, they stand behind them.

One near zero winter day I was lopping away at a particularly nasty Crataegus and got the jaws of my five year old loppers embedded in a limb that approached the upper limit of the tool's capacity. When I gave a Hail-Mary squeeze on the handles, the cutting blade snapped cleanly at the bolt hole.

Realizing that perhaps I had asked more of the tool than I should have, I bought a second pair to finish the job, but resorted to a saw for the larger material.

On a whim, I later took photos of the broken part and emailed the photos and an explanation, which included a "can you help me with this?", to Fiskars. To my surprise, in a couple of weeks I received a new cutting blade, free of charge, and a thank-you for choosing Fiskars products.

Which is how I came to have two pair. Gotta love 'em!

They're also much safer than machetes.

I have a pair of loppers that I purchased at an ACE Hardware when working on a project. The limb I needed to cut was too high to safely get with the brush blade, so I ran across the street, and picked up a pair of loppers. I stood on top of the ATV rack, and snipped off the branch.

They have been in my truck ever since. The only time they are taken out of the truck is when we are ding yardwork at the house, and they go right back in when we are done. I prefer them over the machete or brush blade if at all possible. Much safer, and makes a nice clean cut.

I may have to check out the racheting version when these need to be replaced.

I do have a small Fiskars folding saw that I picked up last year for small branches. It is very handy.

I switched to loppers......

" They're also much safer than machetes."

unless you are trying to cut the head off a mad water moccasin.

I may have to give loppers a try, recently have been using a couple pairs of Friskar's Forged Pruners after acquiring tennis elbow, which I believe may be in part of always using a machete. When swinging at the small stuff, my 22" Ontario always strained my elbow when it met little resistance.

I could see how loppers would come in handy, but maybe those wild multi-floral rose bushes still need to be tamed by the machete/brush ax...Biggest con I see is just the size/shape of loppers, the machete stores nicely in it's sheath.

I'm on my second set. They are good loppers and are in some places more practical that machete. The 3x gearing makes a difference.

I recommend BARNEL loppers which are American made.

> I recommend BARNEL loppers which are American made.

The Fiskars Ratcheting Loppers are definitely easier to cut with than any other pair of loppers I've ever used. It's a good design that works.

Also won't trigger paranoia

Also not mentioned: walking around with a machete can trigger a call to the police