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Let proper tools be the beginning of your new wisdom. Unless you mislay them or let the neighbors borrow, one set can last you a lifetime. You may as well start with the best. Item one is pruning shears, the kind with heavy-duty blades so opposed that they cut closer on one side than the other. They should be at least eight inches long over-all, with broad handles for a firm grip. Ladylike "snips" are only frustrating. If your arms and fingers are short, get shears with long wooden handles. Take a fair-sized branch with you into the store and settle for no shears that will not make a half-inch cut without effort. The kind without reopening springs is least prone to rust shut. Painted red or orange rather than green, your shears will be found sooner when you drop them into grass. Tastes differ in handsaws—straight-blade or curved—but one rule prevails for all pruning saws: at least six teeth to the inch. Coarser gauges tend to rip and tear on cuts of less than four inches, which is what most of yours will be. The so-called "speed" saws are for professionals in a hurry. For home-owner use, a 15-inch curved blade with metal or plastic grip is ideal. The curve is helpful on cuts that must be made overhead or reached out for, with reduced wrist pressure. Also, it is handy for hooking free the cuttings that hang up. If you decide you prefer a straight blade, don't get one with teeth on both edges. These look like labor savers, but they do a lot of inadvertent damage. The upper curf hits unintended targets. |
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