2018 | Issue 102


Resources: Felco Nos. 8 and 9 Pruners

After Nearly 40 Years, There’s Still Nothing Better

By Edward Behr

To control exuberant canes and vines and have full crops of grapes or raspberries, for instance, or to shape a young apple tree, it’s essential to prune. Felco pruners with their red-plastic-coated handles are an icon in their home country of Switzerland. They’re unusually well-designed and well-made, produced in both left- and right-handed models. They fit your grip; they’re comfortable and effective, a pleasure to use. Around our house, they’re so popular, being equally useful on nonedible landscaping, that this summer I bought a second pair. A backyard gardener might never dull them, but the cast-aluminum handles are fitted with an easily replaceable carbon-steel blade and counterblade. During the ten or 12 years since I bought my originals, they’ve been used a lot. At one point, I replaced the blade, and now it’s time again. In fact, every part of the tool is replaceable (there’s a complete list on felco.com), but it’s hard to imagine that anything apart from the blade would wear out. The pruners run around $45 on various US websites; oddly, European prices are higher. Note that Felco 8 is for righties, Felco 9 is for lefties.

From issue 102

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