On 09/09/2010 13:26, bobharvey wrote:
On 8 Sep, 18:58, stuart wrote:
Can't seem to find anything decent in the way of anvil type secateurs.
My no name pair have given up after 25 years, and everything I look at
now is under a tenner, and likely to perform accordingly IME. Felco seem
to have discontinued the only anvil type (model 30), so I'm a bit
stumped. Anyone got any suggestions?

Draper do quite a nice one with non-slip blade, type 45315. It's
about 15 quid in the local garden centre and about 4 quid on the web.
Cheap enough to throw away when it has had it. Or local farm supplies
place has the Wolf RS22 for a tenner, they look quite good. Bahco
P138-22 are very rugged, but quite expensive, and I am not convinced
about the blade.

IME it's not the blade that's the problem, but the anvil part that it
goes into/against when squeezed. If that's worn, it tends to cut through
99% of the thickness of the material, and leave you the 1% to tear off
by hand, which is frustrating.
My latest is a £3 job from some supermarket, which looks sturdy enough
but, straight out of its shrink wrap, doesn't cut cleanly through a soft
5mm stalk.
I'll investigate the above though. Thanks for that.

Or you could do some lateral thinking, and go for an industrial shear:
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/s_10153_1...intS hip=true
I have one of the accu-cut and use it a huge amount for pipe, wood,
rope, and things like that.