New favorite tool - pruning shears!!

couldn't find my side nips tonight so i grabbed a pair of pruning shears and these work great cutting wire, thin aluminum and brass pipes and they are great for getting under tightly wound zip ties to cut!!



lol, who'da thunk it?

I have used the long handled ones in a pinch to cut the copper tubing off of AC rads but never grabbed the short handled pair before lol nd they fit in my hand real nice too.

Originally Posted by newattitude

lol, who'da thunk it?

hahaha! ; )

are pruning shears and end loppers different ?

I use a pair of lopers to remove wires from power supplies.

Loppers are great for cutting out car wiring looms. Get them down & into the tight corners, snip, & yank that part of the loom out.

Ha, nice tip there NA!

I use a pair of kitchen scissors, lest I think they are. Bloody things work great for snipping wire, plastic ties, and the connector ends on ribbon cable, an other types. These are like a beast pair of scissors tho. Another pair I tried using didn't do jack, but these suckers..SNIP! Like it's butta!

Scott..You never cease to amaze me with the info, I ever need to hide a body your the man I'm coming to..wait for it..for a hand..haha! I found it interesting but as we all know, I'm kinda odd. Ok, maybe more then kinda..

Sirscrapalot - “I don't trust society to protect us, I have no intention of placing my fate in the hands of men whose only qualification is that they managed to con a block of people to vote for them.” - Mario Puzo from the Godfather.

Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot

Ha, nice tip there NA!

I use a pair of kitchen scissors, lest I think they are. Bloody things work great for snipping wire, plastic ties, and the connector ends on ribbon cable, an other types. These are like a beast pair of scissors tho. Another pair I tried using didn't do jack, but these suckers..SNIP! Like it's butta!

Scott..You never cease to amaze me with the info, I ever need to hide a body your the man I'm coming to..wait for it..for a hand..haha! I found it interesting but as we all know, I'm kinda odd. Ok, maybe more then kinda..

Sirscrapalot - “I don't trust society to protect us, I have no intention of placing my fate in the hands of men whose only qualification is that they managed to con a block of people to vote for them.” - Mario Puzo from the Godfather.

I also use a pair of scissors for cutting the gold connectors off of ribbon cable. Works great but makes my hand hurt if I'm doing a lot of cable.

For those of you that are using pruning shears or loppers, just a quick tip. Use hone stones and files to sharpen them.

BEFORE they get beyond sharpening or deform badly, sharpen them up. They are easier to maintain than reshape and sharpen when badly dulled. Just follow the existing shape and take an equal amount of passes on each side to avoid reshaping the blade. I use a file to remove the burrs and and nicks. If you are cutting big material leave the filed edge. It acts as serration and helps cut bigger material. If you use them on fine material such as 14 ga. or smaller wire then finish with the hone stone to a smoother finish.

WARNING:
If you change the blade shape, you will potentially ruin the ability to cut with them. Then again if you are using them for this purpose you probably expect them to get worn out or ruined at some point.

I have taken "junk", "dull" shears and loppers people have replaced because they cut hard because of over use or misuse and made them cut like new this way. A little common sense and free time and you have a really nice cutting tool.

Last one I found was a Fiskars 2' loppers. Retail was almost $80. I paid $2 for it, spent a minute or two with a file and hone stone and it cut like new. I have used it now for a few years. Cant beat the price. I have turned down $20-$30 on it already several times after letting others use it. To me having a nice, comfortable, dependable tool is worth more than resale for a quick profit.

Hope this helps the rest of you keep your favorite shears and loppers cutting for a long time to come. BTW this works nicely for scissors and shears as well.