Ever try to cut off a limb of a tree with a carpenter’s saw? If the limb was small or dead, you probably didn’t encounter many serious difficulties, but if it, was reasonably good-sized and green you had a tussle on your hands. Better use a pruning saw next time – the job will seem much easier and give you much more satisfaction! The cured lumber with which the carpenter works is considerably different from the green, wood of a tree or shrub.
By choosing the pruning tool for the job, one can get the best results in the easiest manner. These results should be a good, clean cut with a minimum of damage to the plant tissues on the part of the plant to remain. The bark around the cut should not be crushed or torn loose, and the wood itself should not be split, or the healing of the wound will be impeded. For efficient operation the tool should be designed for ease in handling. One with good balance, and one which does not require specially-developed skills to guide it, is always to be preferred.
Knife with a Curved Blade
For pruning out small branches of shrubs or young trees a knife is often handy. A pocket knife carried in one’s gardening clothes is always at hand for the little, unexpected cutting tasks. If care is used, good clean cuts can be made; but in less careful hands a slip of the knife may result in the loss of a desired branch. A curved blade is preferred, as it will cut into the wood easier with a pull stroke. Such a knife can be used to advantage to smooth up the edge of saw cuts to promote more rapid healing. For removing berry-canes, a hook-blade with a handle about two feet long is advantageous in cutting out old canes.
There is a wide variety in the pruning shears available. For all-around use a pair with curved, shear-type blades is most satisfactory. Those which have the cutting blade and one handle forged from one piece of steel usually give less trouble from being sprung than do those in which the blade is made separately then riveted onto the handle piece. Some of the newer style shears are designed so they do not close at the handle end; an improvement which eliminates the danger of a badly pinched hand. A catch on the shears which will not close accidentally while the shears are in use is a great convenience; often a short loop of leather riveted to one handle serves this purpose well. Always try a shear in the hand before buying – look for one that seems to fit your hand and won’t tire you unnecessarily. The blades should be narrow so they can be used in a narrow crotch; the cutting blade should be thin so it will slice through the wood easily. A leather shear case which can be worn on a belt is a great convenience in keeping the shears at hand.
For the quick removal of wood too large for the hand-pruning shears use a pair of lopping shears. The blades are quite similar to hand shears, except heavier and with a more curved hook-blade. Those with wood hand grips on long, steel handles will usually stand harder use than those having the long wooden handles. Again, those with reasonably narrow blades will be better far making close cuts in tight places.
Where a small branch is to be removed above the reach of the worker, the problem often can be solved by the use of a pole pruner. Tine hook and shear blade both must be heavy enough to withstand the rough use which is inevitable in a tool used on a ten, twelve, fourteen, or even a sixteen-foot pole. For general-purpose use a pole pruner with rope pull to operate the blade is preferred over one using a small rod with a lever near the bottom of the pole. The lever to which the rope is attached interferes occasionally; however, this is not a serious disadvantage. Some pole pruners use a pulley to increase the mechanical advantage for the operator.
Indispensable hedge Shears
For general hedge trimming, especially where the growth is allowed to harden up, a good pair of hedge shears is about indispensable. It will cut one-year-old wood, or by using tine notch usually found at the base of one blade even larger steins can be eat. For the short hedge, or the longer one which is cut only once a year, the hedge shear is most practical. Useful, too, for shearing evergreens to keep them from growing too large, the hedge shear rises to its greatest triumphs in the hands of the topiary artist.
For trimming the longer hedge an electric hedge clipper will shorten the tusk, especially if the stems are cut before the wood gets really hard. Where electricity is not available, some of the hand power hedge clippers will speed up the job of cutting soft, lush shoot growth; but if the trimming is not done often enough, it will be hard to cut with hand devices except hedge shears.
For removing limbs up to approximately four inches in diameter, a small, curved-blade pruning saw with short teeth pointing toward the handle, so that the saw cuts mostly on the pull stroke, is most satisfactory. These saws, with a blade approximately fourteen inches long, not over two inches wide near the handle and tapering to less than an inch at the tip, can he easily maneuvered for cutting in a narrow crotch or to remove one stem from a cluster of several in a thickly-grown shrub. The similar saw having long, needle-point teeth is almost us good, hut the points of the teeth seem to dull faster.
The straight-bladed saw with fine teeth on one edge and coarse ones on the other edge, usually sold as a double-duty pruning saw, is unsatisfactory in close quarters where it is so often necessary to make a cut to prune properly. While the teeth in one edge are used to make the cut, those in the other edge usually rip through the bark of the branch which is to remain, causing an unnecessary wound.
Special Kinds of Saws
The pruning saws which have a removable swivel blade in a frame somewhat similar to a hack-saw frame are good when carefully used. For one who has more than a few hours of pruning to do each year, the necessity of twisting the blade to set it for the cuts may be aggravating; otherwise these saws will cut surprisingly well even in close quarters. With these saws, the blades are replaced rather than sharpened.
For large cuts the larger saws with a twenty-four inch blade, similar to a one-man cross-cut saw, and usually having four cutting points to two raker points are generally satisfactory. For faster work a saw about the same size with a curved blade and with cutting and raker teeth pointing back toward the handle, so they cut mostly on the pull stroke, is widely used. These latter saws may not make as smooth a cut, but in most cases this difference is not a serious consideration.
Using a Pole Saw
To saw off limbs when it is impossible to get up close, a pole saw is a great help. The saw blade most widely used is about fourteen inches long, curved, with long needle-pointed teeth. Unlike hand pruning saws, the long needle-pointed teeth are best for this use. A pole about twelve feet long is most satisfactory; longer, they are too heavy to use at arm’s length and shorter, they will not reach far enough. These saws should always he used with care because it is often harder to make a cut at the correct angle at such a distance.
The professional tree pruner regards his rope as one of his most important tools. It not only enables him to get around in a tree easier, but it acts as a life saver if he should slip. The one hundred twenty feet of half-inch, best-quality manila rope is well worth its cost and careful care to these men.
Select the pruning tools most suited to your work. Care for them by keeping them sharp, rust-free and clean. The tools can’t do the job alone, but the proper tools will make it easier and more pleasurable for the one using them to accomplish it efficiently.
by R Williams – 61434
