Sometimes a pair of hand pruners just won’t ‘cut it’.
When you’re pruning in the garden, you might find you need a tool that’s a little sturdier than your everyday pruners. This is where we can help. Here at Darlac, the cutting tool experts, we have an excellent range of heavy-duty loppers to solve your gardening problems.
Martin Fish and our friends at Pots & Trowels have created a useful video to help you understand which loppers will best support you with those heavy-duty garden tasks. In this post we’ll explore three different types of Darlac heavy duty loppers. To find out more, read on or watch the video below.
The Bypass Lopper
The Darlac Bypass Lopper has a strong, tough blade. It’s sharp on one side and has a bevelled edge on the other – perfect for cutting! It works like a pair of scissors to snip the branch with the huge, thick blade, ensuring you get a neat, clean cut.
With this tool you can cut branches up to 40mm in diameter, so it will work for most tasks for the household gardener. Another advantage of the Bypass Lopper is the extendable handles, so you can reach up high without balancing on ladders to save you time and energy.
A great way to use these loppers is to prune your fruit trees. For example, you can use these to take branches out of apple trees. For apple trees, you want to undertake some light pruning on a regular basis. It’s good to keep the centre of the tree nice and open, so there is good air circulation. This is where the loppers come into their own.
To use these loppers, get the branch right to the back of the blade, as you would do with smaller pruners, then apply pressure and close the blades. You’ll see a lovely clean cut with no snags. Ideally this type of pruning should take place before the tree comes into leaf – this is usually from November until the end of march.
Anvil Loppers
If you’ve got shrubs to prune in the garden, then the Darlac Anvil Loppers might be the best tool for the job. Anvil loppers work very simply but very effectively. With this tool you’ll find it has a thick metal base and a sharp double-edged blade that cuts down. It’s this combination that creates a clean cut. These loppers work well for hard wood or dead growth as the double edge blade cuts firmly.
The Anvil Loppers can cut branches that are up to 40mm in diameter, which is great news if your garden is full of thick branches. To use these loppers, ensure the blades are tight around the base of the branch you want to cut back, then slice the blades together and you’ll get a good clean, smooth cut.
Heavy Duty Ratchet Lopper
If you’ve got thicker wood or branches to cut back, the Darlac Heavy Duty Ratchet Lopper is the tool for you. It’s got a huge jaw that can cut branches up to 60mm in diameter!
You’ll find it’s got a solid anvil base and a heavy-duty blade that will cut down on the wood. The difference with this lopper is the ratchet mechanism, which can be pumped to make the needed cut. This system takes lots of the pressure, so you don’t have to.
If you’ve got thick branches that you’d normally struggle to slice, this tool can help. It’s also got extendable handles to give extra leverage when cutting. These can be used for cutting back trees to ensure fuller growth in the summer.
To use the Heavy-Duty Anvil Lopper, ensure the blade is in position around the branch – the anvil will hold it in place. Then, apply pressure by pumping the ratchet. The ratchet will then work its way through the branch for a clean cut. This is a great tool that really does make light work of thick branches.
When you’ve finished your pruning, you’ll have lots of woody branches left over. You could shred these or use them in the garden, but if you’ve got a small space in the garden that’s not being used, you could use the wood to make a mini log pile area for insects and beetles to shelter. This will encourage birds into the garden and support wildlife. Finally, remember when you’ve finished with your loppers always give them a quick wipe down and keep them nice and clean, an oily cloth works wonders for this.
Whichever tool you choose, it’s important to look after them. If after heavy use you find the blade has dulled, it’s important to resharpen them. This task doesn’t take long, but it will ensure your tools last you for years to come. You can find out more about sharpening your blades here. Why not try the Darlac Diamond Sharpener to keep your tools razor sharp?
You can purchase all of the tools we’ve mentioned in store from your local garden centre. Read more about Darlac stockists here.
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