Tools for Pruning Hedges

Hand Pruners

• The most common types of hand pruners are bypass pruners and anvil pruners. Both types of hand pruners have a set of two, palm-sized handles hinged at a fulcrum and attached to set of cutting heads. What distinguishes bypass pruners from anvil pruners is blade shape and function. Bypass pruner blades are crescent shaped and, like a pair of scissors, both blades are sharp-edged and rest side-by-side when in the closed position. An anvil pruner's cutting head consists of one sharp-edged blade and one dull, broad-edged blade, both shaped like half circles. Whereas bypass pruners slice through hedges with both blades, the anvil pruner essentially presses plant material against the dull edge while cutting with the sharp edge.

Lopping Shears

• Lopping shears mirror bypass pruners in nearly every aspect, except for scale. Like bypass pruners, lopping shears have a set of two, crescent-shaped cutting blades attached to straight handles. However, lopping shears' cutting heads are typically several wide and tools' handles stretch 2 to 3 feet long. The extra leverage provided by the tool's long handles and its wide-mouthed blades allows landscapers to cut through thick material, such as hedge branches and limbs.

Hedge Shears

• Hedge shears' blades share their form with multipurpose, household scissors; each blade's sides are relatively straight and taper to a point. However, unlike household scissors, hedge shears' blades connect to a set of long, straight handles. Hedge shears' handles range from roughly 1 to 2 feet long and require two hands for operation. Unlike the curved blades of lopping shears and bypass pruners, hedge shears' long, straight blades do not grip and hold branches. However, hedge shears blades create clean cuts across hedge surface material, such as thin branches and foliage. Hedge shears allow landscapers to shape and clean-up the appearance of a hedge.

Pruning Saw

• Landscapers use the pruning saw to sever hedge branches that are too large or awkward for pruners and shears. The pruning saw is essentially an adaptation of the common, carpenter's crosscut saw. Like a crosscut saw, the pruning saw consists of a sharp-toothed blade attached to a wooden or plastic, pistol-gripped handle. However, unlike the crosscut saw, the pruning saw's cutting edge curves in a long, smooth arc. Many pruning saw's cut only the pull-stroke; an advantage when the landscaper must draw a branch toward his body. Pruning saw length generally ranges from 1 to 2 feet and the blade's thin profile allows a landscaper to access a hedge's interior.