Cutting Tools for the Yard and Garden

Last Saturday I cut my lawn, and then reserved Sunday for pruning chores. On Sunday I looked at all of my pruning tools and because I was going to use all of them, I thought it might be helpful for you to know for what these tools are used.

The first tool I used was my 14-foot Compound Action Tree Pruner. I had a couple of seed heads on my queen palms that I cut off because I greatly dislike picking up the hundreds of dropped fruits from the palm after they ripen. You can see from the photo below how the saw on the extended pole is used to cut the palm fronds. There is also a compound action lopper on the end, but I rarely use it as it is too small for my palms' fronds.

Please be careful with the pole saw. Even after years of use, the saw blade is still razor sharp. Never use this tool near power lines. Very important! Be aware of what will drop down and where when you cut at height. Pictured above right is a flower sheath that I cut off of my 20+ foot queen palm. That sucker landed straight up with its tip buried in the ground. That thing could probably impale a body pretty easily. If you cut a stalk full of ripe fruit, stay away as it comes crashing to the ground. Those things can weigh up to 50 pounds. Dropping from 14 feet up, they can cause damage to life, limb and property.

The next tool I pulled out was my Compound Action Anvil Lopper. It has a one and one-half inch cutting capacity and compound linkage that triples my cutting power. This is used for lower branches on my citrus trees and lower fronds on palm trees and such. While these loppers may look like bolt cutters, they are only to be used to prune branches of plants. Other use may break the tool or cause personal injury.

After cutting big branches and fronds I next picked-up the hedge shears to give my orange jasmine (Murraya paniculata) a trim. Hedge shears are used to manicure decorative shrubbery and other types of plants. Manually powered hedge shears are environmentally friendly. I prefer these shears because they provide an excellent cardiovascular and upper body workout!

Grass Shears are straight bladed cutters used to shear grass or weeds. They may also be used for smaller shrubs, such as rosemary, to help manicure and shape the plant. Grass shears are very handy for shaping finer leaved bushes where using hedge shears would be too unwieldy.

The final pruners below have small curved blades which are used to help cut out smaller twigs and for dead-heading flowers, for example, on rose bushes.

Oil cutting tools after use to keep them working smoothly and to help prevent rust.

Keep cutting tools sharp - this helps in making clean cuts which minimize the risk of infection and disease, particularly when pruning woody plants.

Never attempt to trim any vegetation growing on or near power lines. Only specially trained line-clearing professionals should work around power lines.