When it comes to choosing a lopper there are so many choices available, even a seasoned gardener can feel confused. However, it doesn’t matter if you are about to buy your first set of loppers, or if you are looking to replace a 30 year-old pair that has finally gone to the great garden shed in the sky, there are a wide range of things to consider. I did some research so, before you lay down your dollars, read and ensure you get the best pair for you and your garden.
How Do I Choose A Lopper? To choose a lopper consider:
- If you’ll be cutting live or dead wood.
- Blade material and coatings
- Cutting mechanism
- Manufacturing and construction
- Do you need fixed length or telescopic handles
- Height of the foliage
- Safety features
- How easy it is to repair or replace parts
- Weight and feel in your hands
- Budget
Although this may sound like a long list of features to go through, don’t panic, that’s what I am here for. Using my unique perspective, formed through
I will walk you through the choices to be made, and equip you with all of the information you need to select the most appropriate lopper to meet your needs.
How Do I Choose A Lopper?
It would be fantastic if I could simply tell you that “X make and model of lopper is the best,” that this is the only pair you should consider, and that they will be exactly what you are looking for. Unfortunately, thist is not the case.
Why?
Because the lopper you choose should be the one which is best suited not only to your garden, but to you, and your budget, so, to begin with, you need to be clear about what a lopper is, and its place in your gardening tool kit.
What Is A Lopper?
A lopper is a tool for cutting branches that are larger than 1/2 inch in diameter, but less than two inches across. For smaller branches and stems, for deadheading flowers, and for cutting fresh herbs and flowers, you will need the loppers smaller sibling, a pair of pruners. If you need to cut back branches which are larger than two inches in diameter you will have to move up to a pruning saw.
Loppers are two handled, come with two different blade styles and three kinds of cutting mechanism which multiply the force used, allowing you to cut thicker branches with less effort. Some have telescopic handle so you can reach higher into a tree or shrub, and there are a variety of materials used for blades, handles, and grips.
Let’s get into detail.
Types Of Lopper
There are two basic styles of lopper and which one you chose depends on whether you will be cutting live wood or dead.
Bypass Loppers
Bypass loppers have blades which work in much the same way as scissors. The thinner, sharper blade passes over the thicker, blunt blade to make a clean precise cut. This makes bypass loppers the best choice for cutting living plants.
You can also cut dead wood with a bypass lopper, but by doing so you run the risk of chipping or denting your blades, getting dead material jammed in the blade or mechanism, and blunting of the sharp blade.
If you only have enough money to purchase one lopper, I would purchase the bypass lopper. To me it is the most versatile in what it can cut and how well it prunes to promote the best healing of the plant.
Anvil Loppers
These loppers have a sharp blade which cuts against a flat anvil, hence the name. Anvil loppers make a rougher cut with more of a crushing action. The more coarse quality of the cut makes anvil loppers most suitable for cutting back dead wood. If you use anvil loppers on a live plant you run the risk of causing damage or creating a rough, crushin cut through which disease can enter.
Cutting Mechanism
Once you have decided if you need bypass loppers or anvil loppers, the next decision is over the action of the cutting mechanism. Both bypass and anvil styles can be found in ratcheting, geared, or compound action style cutting mechanisms.
Ratcheting
Ratcheting loppers have a cutting mechanism which latches when the handles are squeezed together. This keeps the blades in place while allowing you to open up the handles and apply another round of pressure, without “losing your place” in the cut. This is especially useful for gardeners with less arm strength and those who are cutting through branches at the thicker end of the loppers range.
Geared
In a similar way to ratcheting loppers, geared loppers allow you to make bigger cuts, gradually, and with less force. The difference is that with ratcheting loppers you can “pump” the handles, open and closed, in a relatively small space.
With geared loppers you need more room to open the loppers wide to begin with. This can make them less suitable for small spaces, minimal arm strength or a limited range of movement.
You also need to be aware of the general quality of construction when choosing geared loppers. With less expensive options the metal from which the lopper gear is made can be softer thus increasing the likelihood that a gear cog might break off during use.
Compound Action
Sometimes called lever action loppers, compound action style loppers, again, work in much the same way as ratcheting style loppers in that they help you make bigger cuts with less energy. However, these loppers have a more complicated lever and pivot point action which allows them to transfer less of your energy into more cutting energy.
Basically you can cut thicker branches with less effort.
Because of this higher “effort to result ratio” you will see some compound action loppers that boast the ability to cut branches of up to 2 ½ inches.
Selecting A Lopper
Once you have narrowed down which style of blade you need, and have an understanding of the different kinds of cutting mechanism, you are in a position to begin selecting a particular make and model of lopper.
To do this you will need to know the pros and cons of the different options available to you. These options can be brtoken down into two areas, lopper features, and the human element.
Lopper Features
- Blade material and coatings
- Manufacturing and construction
- Do you need fixed length or telescopic handles
- Height of the foliage
- Safety features
- How easy it is to repair or replace parts
The Human Element
- Weight of the loppers
- Grip material and feel / ergonomics
- Health Issues and other special considerations
Let’s take a look at each of these elements in detail. I’ll tell you what each option means and help you decide which is the best for you.
The Blade
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As a general rule of thumb, the cheaper a pair of loppers are, the less durable their blades are likely to be. This is an especially important consideration when choosing bypass loppers where blunt, nicked, or warped blades can cause damage to your plants.
Blade Material
Once you start to check out the loppers available in your chosen style you will see that the blades may be made from one of three materials, each of which has advantages and disadvantages.
- Hardened Steel. Also referred to as carbon steel or high carbon steel, this is steel which has been heat-treated to make it stronger. Blades made of hardened steel stay sharper for longer, are less likely to bend, and have a lower chance of chipping. However, they do corrode more quickly and as such you must exercise more care in cleaning and maintenance to ensure their longevity.
- Stainless Steel. Slightly softer than their hardend counterparts, stainless steel blades become dull more quickly than high carbon blades. They are also more likely to sustain damage such as bends and chips, which can cause injury to your plant. The flip side of this is that they have a protective layer of chromium oxide which makes them more resistant to corrosion.
- Titanium. Titanium is half as dense as steel meaning that a titanium blade will be half the weight of the same size blade made from steel. It is strong, but contrary to popular opinion it is not significantly stronger than steel, and in some cases steel can be stronger. This is why, in industry, when strength is most important steel is used, but when weight is most important titanium is the metal of choice.
Blade Coatings
- Titanium also has a superior level resistance to corrosion which makes it a popular choice for blade coatings. You will see hardened steel blades which have been coated with titanium providing you with the best in strength, and rust and stain resistance.
- Anti-friction coatings. These can be found on some bypass loppers. This enables the blades to pass over each other more easily, in turn allowing the blades to be set more closely.
- Sap repellents. You will see loppers which have been labeled as having a sap-repellant, or similar coating. These coatings do nothing for the strength or cutting capacity of your blades but will make it less likely for them to stain or jam as a result of debris and sap.
Blade Settings
The ability to adjust your balde settings is an important feature to look for when choosing a pair of loppers. Over time the loppers may become loose causing them to cut less cleanly and jam with fragments of bark or wood.
When you purchase a pair which are adjustable you can ensure your lopper blades meet tightly and remain problem free.
Blade Construction
No matter what material your lopper is made from there are also differences in manufacturing that you may have to take into account. Not all loppers will be marked or labelled with the process by which they were made, but if they are it is most likely to be a stamp to say they were forged. There are three main kinds of forging, but a lopper labelled as forged is usually made by drop forging. .
This kind of process involves the molten metal being hammered into a die which arranges the grain structure of the metal in such a way that it creates a stronger end product.
Handles
Once you have narrowed down the type of lopper, the blade material, and the cutting mechanism it is time to turn your attention to the handles, and more specifically, the grip.
Handle length
The length of lopper handles varies considerably and to some extent the length of the handle you choose will depend on how far and high you have to reach. However, the longer the handles are, the more leverage you will have. This enables you to cut thicker branches than you would be able to with shorter handles.
If you have a range of branch thicknesses, plant heights etc. then a good option is a pair of loppers with telescopic handles. These will give you all of the benefits of long handled loppers, while also being shorter and less unwieldy for the smaller lopper jobs in the garden
Handle Grip
The grip area of the handle can range from a thin plastic coating to a thick, spongy or rubberized hand piece. There are also a wide variety of shapes and sizes from which to choose.
Which grip you go for is a matter of personal preference. Ultimately you want the ones which feel most comfortable in your hands.
One word of advice though. The handles which have thicker, sponge or foam grips have a tendency to be more easily damaged than their less cushioned counterparts. This is especially true when you are working in among branches which can easily catch on the foam, ripping it or tearing it off.
Safety Features
Some of the loppers you look at may be labeled as having a handle bumper, or bump stop. This is a small piece of material, usually hard rubber, that is located at the top of the handles, close to the base of the blade, but under the cutting mechanism.
This small block is there to stop the handles closing too tightly and subsequently squashing your hands between them.
Not all loppers have handle bumpers and not all loppers that do, will be set wide enough to prevent your hands from touching when you close them. If, when you are trying out handles, you find that your hands touch when the lopper is closed, don’t buy them.
Ease Of Repair And Maintenance
Less expensive loppers aren’t, generally speaking, designed for ease of repair and maintenance. The expectation being that when they are damaged or broken, the price point makes it more cost effective to throw them away and purchase a new pair.
However, once you begin to look at the higher quality loppers you will notice they are made with sharpening, blade adjustment, and part replacement in mind
Ergonomics & Weight
Once you have your long list of possible options whittled down to a short list, you will want to try them out in order to find out which ones are the most comfortable for you to use.
Many tools are labeled as being of ergonomic design, but this is only beneficial if your hands are the “correct” size for the grips and the overall weight of the tool is comfortable. If not, then it doesn’t matter if they are ergonomic, they will never feel “quite right”
The majority of the weight in a pair of loppers, is in the handles. For example, a pair of heavy duty loppers with steel handles will weigh significantly more than a pair with handles made from carbon fiber.
When you are selecting your loppers take the time to hold them at a range of heights and angles to simulate the way in which you will use them in the garden. So, for example, if the majority of your cutting will be above head height, experiment with the cutting action whilst holding the loppers aloft.
Health Issues And Other Special Considerations
For those who have health issues or conditions which affect their mobility, it is especially important to try out your loppers before hand.
Geared mechanisms will provide you with significantly more leverage than non-geared cutting mechanisms, which is useful for gardeners with less strength in their arms and hands.
In addition, organizations, such as The Arthritis Foundation, maintain a database of tools which are especially well suited for those who suffer from the condition. This list includes specific makes and models of loppers, in both bypass, and anvil styles.
Conclusion
To ensure you you purchase loppers which are appropriate for both you and your gardening needs it is important to first establish which style of lopper you need.
Then, using the information in this guide, you can choose the brands and models which provide the best value for your budget. Then, once you have your shortlist, test the loppers by lifting, moving them around, and carrying out cutting motions.
By follow these steps you will end up with a pair of loppers which will not only be right for you today, but should provide you with excellent service for years to come.