Pruning shears

They are used in gardening, arboriculture, plant nursery works, farming, flower arranging, and nature conservation, where fine-scale habitat management is required.

[1] Loppers are a larger, two-handed, long-handled version for branches thicker than pruning shears can cut.

Cutting plants as part of gardening dates to antiquity in both European and East Asian topiary, with specialized scissors used for Chinese penjing and its offshoots – Japanese bonsai and Vietnamese Hòn Non-Bộ – for over a thousand years.

In modern Europe, scissors only used for gardening work have existed since the early 1800s, when the French aristocrat Antoine-François Bertrand de Molleville was listed as the inventor of the secateurs in Figures pour l’almanach du bon jardinier: Répresentant les Utensiles le plus généralement employés dans la culture des Jardins, published in 1813.

Other companies producing anvil pruners include Bahco, Edma, Felco, Fiskars Gardena and Wolf Garten.

An extensive collection of historical variants of secateurs can be seen at Breamore House, Hampshire, England.

As long as the blade meets the anvil at the end of the cut and fits tightly against it, the material is separated.

Because they make a clean cut without crushing, bypass pruners are preferable for pruning live wood.

[4] Parrot-beak pruners consist of two concave passing blades, which trap the stem between them to make the cut.

Some types are designed for right-handed or left-handed use only, and some incorporate a rotating handle to reduce friction and minimize hand stress during repetitive use.