With lockdown and a 3-year-old, I feel it's time to fight back against nature and reclaim our back yard. It's not a bit yard so I don't need big clippers. I'm looking for a pair of pruning shears that will cut through anything and is under £20. I borrowed my neighbour's clippers and did the bulk of the work, but I don't want to keep troubling her.
I bought 'FELCO Model 2 Secateurs' off Amazon after some recommendations here. They are £47, but are worth it! A lovely smooth action, designed to last and can cut through exceptionally thick branches (I think my record is 2cm diameter).
I saw these recommended in another thread, but hard to justify given my small "garden", which would mostly consist of cutting the crap that grows over the fence.
Can I be 'that guy' and recommend a pruning saw instead of shears or secateurs. Blaupunkt do a decent one that's less than £20 and will go through absolutely anything. Or you can go mad and get a Silky Zubat, but be warned once you own one it becomes addictive.
I've certainly used one before and they are great for pruning trees. My trouble is nothing so sturdy that I would need to saw through.
Fiskars would be my choice for this sort of thing. https://www.fiskars.com/en-gb/gardening/products/pruners
Heavier duty has been important to me. You want something like this. Note the stoppers to keep your knuckles from clapping together. The extensions also give you leverage to cut anything that fits in the jaw. When the bin fills up you can use these to chop down the contents to mulch and fit more trash. -Guy that's had a bunch of bent and broken shears given back to him after loaning them out. -This is probably closer to what you want. I noticed the Fiscars version is one of the ones I had returned bent. They are kinda flimsy.
As my garden is pretty small, and I'm happy with something I can snip with one hand and toss the veg in a sac. As an added benefit, I can store a small pair inside, reducing the risk of rusting.
Then in that case I only suggest you find a pair that doesn't insist on locking every time you squeeze them shut.
Does such a pair exist? I am excluding the ones where the lock breaks after two uses and thus are permanently open.
@Dr. Coin -In my experience, the lock breaks after 2 uses and starts doing what I said above. Also: The people you loan them to will ALWAYS try to cut wire/chain link fence with them.
