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Tackle your yards tougher branches with our top picks.
Credit:Better Homes & Gardens
Whats worse, it also can cause unintended damage.
Loppers are the larger siblings tohand prunersor garden secateurs, Peters says.
Some loppers are even easier to use thanks to extendable arms and mechanical enhancements.
Credit: A.M. Leonard
key in
There are two types of loppers:bypass and anvil.
Gardeners who have trees and shrubs to prune regularly will most often use abypass lopper.
It works just like scissors, with two sharp blades slicing past each other to make a clean cut.
Credit: Amazon
The blades of ananvil lopperdont glide past each other.
It has one sharp, cutting blade that chops onto a flatter blade.
An anvil blade crushes, Peters says.
Credit: Amazon
If it’s used on live, green wood, it can cause damage.
When youre tackling broken branches or debris, crushing is an advantage, not a concern.
Mechanism jot down
Standard loppers, like theA.M.
Credit: Amazon
Leonard professional lifetime lopper, require the most exertion and strength to operate.
That said, theyre designed to smoothly cut through branches that are just too thick for your hand pruners.
But you could make pruning less tedious from the start using a lopper with mechanical enhancements.
A lopper with modified gears boosts cutting power for live, green branches thicker than 12 inch.
Its extra helpful for tackling girthier branches.
A ratcheting lopper requires even less power.
Length and Weight
The length of a loppers handles generally dictates its weight.
Generally, the shorter the length, the lighter the lopper is.
Leonard professional lopperis the shortest on our list at 28 inches long, and its the lightest, too.
At 2.6 pounds, it weighs about the same as a thin laptop.
The smaller handles will make negotiating other branches and getting into the interior of plants easier, Peters says.
Of course, longer handles make it possible to reach higher branches without needing a ladder.
This can be extra tricky if youre attempting to cut branches above your head.
Thats why all of the loppers on our list are made with this comfy feature.
The handle material matters, too.
Look for aluminum or metal alloy handles, which are lightweight and durable, like theA.M.
Leonard professional lopper, which is just 2.6 pounds.
Many modern loppers come with ergonomically designed handles to minimize hand fatigue.
Its pricier than other options, including loppers with mechanical enhancements that increase cutting power.
Leonard professional lifetime lopperis one of the most reliable loppers out there.
At just 2.6 pounds, this lopper shouldnt tire out your arms mid-prune.
Plus, its hard-chrome plating resists rust.
Once a blade does wear out, it can be removed and replaceda feature Peters calls a must.
you’ve got the option to only sharpen a blade for so long, Peters says.
This 4-pound lopper might be heavy for some gardeners.
TheCorona DualLink extendable bypass lopperdoesnt sacrifice sturdiness for reach.
It takes seconds to securely adjust the lopper to your desired length.
You wont have to worry about its parts wobbling, but your arms might.
This lopper weighs in at 4 pounds, but its designed with thoughtful features to reduce further fatigue.
It may be awkward to squeeze the lopper shut from a wide angle.
With theFiskars 32-inch lopper, cutting through thicker branches no longer requires giving it everything youve got.
Other supportive enhancements include a low-friction coating on the alloy steel bypass blade.
Ergonomically designed steel handles are rounded and cushioned for added comfort, too.
The crushing motion of the heavy-duty anvil blade isnt a good option for pruning green, growing wood.
Dry, rigid branches can be the toughest to cut withoutSpear & Jackson anvil loppers advantages.
This crushes the woody material, sacrificing precision for power.
For the latter, its better to use a lopper with a bypass blade or a pruning saw.
Even though the extra machine power makes the lopper top-heavy, it significantly reduces strain on your body.
Aluminum handles are comfortable to grip and extend easily for more leverage by twisting them open and close.
Leonard lopperis lightweight, easy to maneuver, and made to last.
Your Questions, Answered
Whats the difference between a lopper and a hand pruner?
Loppers are excellent on plant material with a diameter of 12 inch to 1 34 inches, Peters says.
That makes loppers the right tooland most efficient toolfor thicker branches that need pruning on trees and shrubs.
Cutting anything larger results in poor health outcomes for both the gardener and the plant.
Whats the lifespan of a lopper?
Even though loppers are heavy-duty gardening tools, the blade wont last forever.
Keep loppers clean and dry to prevent rusting of the blades or other exposed steel components, Peters says.
Lightly oilemphasis on lightly so as to not attract dirt!all mechanisms and exposed metal, she says.
If you prefer wood-handled loppers, Peters recommends rubbing them regularly with linseed oil.
Puhala has also written about seed starting soil, tomato cages, weed killers, and gifts for gardeners.
