Been looking to buy a pair of loppers. I know I want the bypass type, but
nearly all of these come with a ratchet mechanism.I'm not keen on one of
those as it's just something extra to go wrong over time

Also if I want to take the loppers apart for sharpening purposes will it be
difficult to re-assemble if there's a ratchet mechanim involved, or is it
straightforward assuming someone here had experience of doing this as I've
no expereience of loppers with a ratchet included?

On 10/05/2014 16:42, FrankB wrote:
Been looking to buy a pair of loppers. I know I want the bypass type, but
nearly all of these come with a ratchet mechanism.I'm not keen on one of
those as it's just something extra to go wrong over time

Also if I want to take the loppers apart for sharpening purposes will it be
difficult to re-assemble if there's a ratchet mechanim involved, or is it
straightforward assuming someone here had experience of doing this as I've
no expereience of loppers with a ratchet included?




I confess I've only ever *looked* at ratchet loppers, but never bought
them because the two pairs of ratchet secateurs I've had over the years
lasted no time at all. I'm just not impressed.

However, I have a pair of ancient Fiskars *geared* loppers which are
excellent. I dread them wearing out, but they haven't yet. Must have
had them nearly 30 yrs. I work them very hard. The blade has been
changed without problem. There have been no other problems.

Increasingly, my painful hands mean I have to reach for my loppers
rather then my faithful Felco secateurs. I clean the blades every time
I use them and oil them occasionally. I highly recommend gears over
ratchet.

--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay

"FrankB" wrote in message
o.uk...

Been looking to buy a pair of loppers. I know I want the bypass type, but
nearly all of these come with a ratchet mechanism.I'm not keen on one of
those as it's just something extra to go wrong over time

Also if I want to take the loppers apart for sharpening purposes will it be
difficult to re-assemble if there's a ratchet mechanim involved, or is it
straightforward assuming someone here had experience of doing this as I've
no expereience of loppers with a ratchet included?
================================================== ==============


FrankB I don't bother to take our loppers to pieces for sharpening, I have a
very small sharpening stone which was in fact 'a sample' given to me by the
rep visiting one of the companies I worked for. Small, hand held it measures
'about' 3 inch x 1 inch wide and half inch thick. Course on one side and
fine on the other. WD40 and this little feller works fine for me.

Give it thought.

Mike



---------------------------------------------------------------
www.friendsofshanklintheatre.co.uk

On 10/05/2014 16:42, FrankB wrote:
Been looking to buy a pair of loppers. I know I want the bypass type, but
nearly all of these come with a ratchet mechanism.I'm not keen on one of
those as it's just something extra to go wrong over time

Also if I want to take the loppers apart for sharpening purposes will it be
difficult to re-assemble if there's a ratchet mechanim involved, or is it
straightforward assuming someone here had experience of doing this as I've
no expereience of loppers with a ratchet included?


I have secateurs from these people and they are great. Link to loppers.....

http://jardin-defrance.com/catalog/t...3ddkta30iliko5
HTH
--
Pete C
adventure before dementure
http://www.scar-crockenhill.org/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Secon...57749060989952

Pete C wrote:

I have secateurs from these people and they are great. Link to loppers.....

http://jardin-defrance.com/catalog/t...3ddkta30iliko5
HTH

They seem to be at the NEC every time I visit an exhibition. They
certainly know how to charge.

I picked up some very similar secateurs from ebay a great deal
cheaper.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

On Saturday, May 10, 2014 3:41:53 PM UTC+1, Frank Booth Snr wrote:
Been looking to buy a pair of loppers. I know I want the bypass type, but

nearly all of these come with a ratchet mechanism.I'm not keen on one of

those as it's just something extra to go wrong over time


These are the business. http://www.garden4less.co.uk/tree-loppers.asp
It's the model 20 you want, they're a manageable size, lovely to use and strong - if you need to cut bigger than these will do you're better using a good pruning saw. The best of those come with Japanese style teeth and cut on the pull stroke.

Rod

On 10/05/2014 16:42, FrankB wrote:

Been looking to buy a pair of loppers. I know I want the bypass type, but
nearly all of these come with a ratchet mechanism.I'm not keen on one of
those as it's just something extra to go wrong over time

Also if I want to take the loppers apart for sharpening purposes will it be
difficult to re-assemble if there's a ratchet mechanim involved, or is it
straightforward assuming someone here had experience of doing this as I've
no expereience of loppers with a ratchet included?

If you mean big heavy ones like bolt cutters mine were discounted end of
season Gardinier (sp) ones in blue and orange. No ratchet.

The blades are teflon coated which wears off but it cuts nicely as does
the rope extension one that is an attachment for their extendable pole.


--
Regards,
Martin Brown

"Rod" wrote in message
...
On Saturday, May 10, 2014 3:41:53 PM UTC+1, Frank Booth Snr wrote:
Been looking to buy a pair of loppers. I know I want the bypass type,
but

nearly all of these come with a ratchet mechanism.I'm not keen on one of

those as it's just something extra to go wrong over time


These are the business. http://www.garden4less.co.uk/tree-loppers.asp
It's the model 20 you want, they're a manageable size, lovely to use and
strong - if you need to cut bigger than these will do you're better using a
good pruning saw. The best of those come with Japanese style teeth and cut
on the pull stroke.

Nice choice there. The Wolf and Spear and Jackson lops look the most
interesting. But I think I might settle for these on Amazon as they are not
a well known brand but seem ti have a good write-up and they are a bit
cheaper and cut up to 38 mm branches.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...tle_2?ie=UTF8&
psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

On 11/05/2014 1:42 AM, FrankB wrote:
Been looking to buy a pair of loppers. I know I want the bypass type, but
nearly all of these come with a ratchet mechanism.I'm not keen on one of
those as it's just something extra to go wrong over time

Also if I want to take the loppers apart for sharpening purposes will it be
difficult to re-assemble if there's a ratchet mechanim involved, or is it
straightforward assuming someone here had experience of doing this as I've
no expereience of loppers with a ratchet included?

A few years ago I bought myself ratchet bypass loppers with extendable
handles so that I could prune off reasonably big branches so that he,
who prunes too much when asked for assistance, stayed away along with
his pruning saw and/or his chain saw.

The loppers I bought were a Japanese brand called Kamaki and they are
very similar to these:
http://www.carryongardening.org.uk/s...0/default.aspx

My loppers are superb quality and despite my expecting them to do more
than they were designed to do, they are still as sturdy as they day I
bought them and although they look big and cumbersome, they just feel
right and perform well and all I've ever needed to do is to run my
sharpener round the curved beak to keep them performing well. My garden
is a big country garden covering a couple of acres and full of trees and
shrubs so they get a lot of use and now that he has discovered their
worth, he also takes them out into the surrounding paddocks if any trees
or shrubs in the windbreaks or round the stock yards need lopping or
tidying up.