Felco Pruning Tools Checklist: Buying, Sharpening, and Workshop Maintenance

I'm an office administrator for a 40-person landscape and vineyard maintenance company. I manage roughly $120,000 in annual orders for tools and workshop supplies across 8 vendors, and I report to both operations and finance. That means I care about two things: the tools work, and the paperwork doesn't start a fight.

This checklist is for anyone who has to buy Felco pruning tools for a crew, keep them sharp, and make sure the shop is ready for repairs. It's not a “one perfect tool” article. It's a practical list you can run through before placing the order.

Step 1: Match Felco pruning tools to the actual cutting jobs

The first mistake I made when I took over purchasing in 2020 was ordering one universal model and expecting everyone to be happy. That isn't how pruning works. Different materials, hand sizes, and reach requirements mean you need a small family of tools, not just one pair.

For most crews, the order should include a standard bypass pruner for canes and young shoots, a heavier model for old wood, and at least one lopper for larger branches. If you've seen someone search for “1 1 2 lopper” instead of “1-1/2 lopper,” that's usually what they mean: a lopper with a 1.5-inch cutting capacity. That's the sweet spot for vineyard and orchard work.

Don't skip the fit test. A 5-foot-2 person and a 6-foot-3 person shouldn't be forced to use the same handle length. Buy two different Felco pruning tools, let the crew test them, and standardize after that.

Checklist for this step:

• Does the cut capacity match the thickest material on site?
• Is the blade style right for the pruning method?
• Can the user reach the cut and operate the tool without wrist strain?

Step 2: Verify the supplier can invoice correctly and prove it's genuine Felco

This is the step most people want to skip. It's also the one that hurts the most when it goes wrong. In 2022, I ordered from a vendor because the price was lower than our regular supplier. They delivered on time, but the invoice wasn't enough for finance. The expense report got rejected, and I had to explain to my VP how a “great deal” became a $2,400 headache.

Now I verify three things before I send a PO:

• The vendor is an authorized Felco dealer.
• Line items show the correct Felco part number and description.
• Invoices include the right tax and payment terms for our accounting team.

Felco is Swiss-made, and the brand's catalog lists official parts and model numbers. If a seller can't tell you the part number or says “it's the same thing,” walk away. Gray-market tools and counterfeit blades exist, and they don't hold up the same way. Authorized doesn't always mean the cheapest, but it means the warranty and replacement parts route is real.

One more thing: check that replacement parts are available from the same dealer. Felco pruners are designed to be repaired. If the dealer doesn't stock blades, springs, or the Felco sharpening tool, you'll be waiting on shipping when you should be working.

Step 3: Use the Felco sharpening tool on a regular schedule

Sharpening is the easiest maintenance task to ignore. It's also the one that changes a workday more than any new tool. A sharp pruner cuts cleanly. A dull one makes the crew tired, damages the plant tissue, and increases the chance of accidents.

The Felco sharpening tool is designed for curved pruner blades. It doesn't need a lot of pressure. The goal is to maintain the existing bevel, not create a new one. I tell our team to think of it as a few smooth passes, not a metalworking project.

Here's the routine we put on the weekly shop schedule:

• Wipe the blade after each day to remove sap and debris.
• Check the edge for nicks before sharpening.
• Draw the Felco sharpening tool along the existing bevel in one direction.
• Wipe off the metal dust and apply a thin coat of oil.
• Store pruners with the blade closed or locked.

The old belief that “sharpening wears out a pruner” comes from an era when blades were much harder to replace. Felco makes replacement blades a normal consumable. Sharpen regularly, and replace a blade when it's chipped or badly worn.

Step 4: Replace springs and fasteners before they fail

I knew I should keep spare springs in stock, but I thought, “what are the odds?” That was the one season a spring broke in the middle of the vineyard, and we had to stop the whole row until someone drove back to the shop. I don't want to repeat that. Every order I place now includes replacement springs for the models we use.

This step applies to loppers too. If you bought a 1-1/2 lopper, inspect the pivot bolt, the nut, and the opening spring before each big job. A loose pivot makes the blades overlap poorly, and a cracked fiberglass handle is a safety problem you won't see until it fails.

In our shed, each pair of Felcos has a small tool number written on the handle. It sounds overkill, but when someone comes in and says “the lopper feels loose,” you know exactly which pair they're talking about. That habit also helps you track when the last sharpening happened.

The quiet “win” here is less downtime. Efficient purchasing is a competitive advantage, but only when the small parts are already in the drawer. Buying a $5 spring before you need it is much easier than explaining a rushed delivery cost to finance.

Step 5: Keep the workshop ready, including angle grinder disc changes

Pruning tools don't live in the field full-time. There's also a workshop side of maintenance, and the angle grinder is part of it. We use it for cutting bolts, shaping metal, and removing old fence wire. A worn or damaged cutting disc is dangerous. Changing it isn't hard, but it's worth doing in the right order.

How to change cutting disc on angle grinder

1. Unplug the grinder. I'll say it again because that step is the one people skip under time pressure: unplug it.
2. Press and hold the spindle lock button until the disc stops turning.
3. Use the spanner that came with the grinder, or a Zyklop 8100 speed ratchet set with the correct socket, to loosen the flange nut. On most grinders, the nut loosens counterclockwise, but check the direction arrow printed on the guard.
4. Remove the old disc and inspect the backing flange. Clean off any debris.
5. Place the new disc flat against the flange. The label should face outward as marked on the grinder.
6. Tighten the flange nut by hand first, then use the ratchet to snug it. Don't overtighten; you need to be able to release it next time.
7. Release the spindle lock, spin the disc by hand to confirm it runs true, plug in, and test it briefly.

Why do I mention the Zyklop 8100 speed ratchet set here? Because the stamped wrench that comes with many grinders is enough, but not comfortable. The speed ratchet makes the job faster, especially when the nut is seized or the grinder is mounted in a bench stand. It's one of those workshop tools that quietly pays for itself.

Common mistakes I've made so you don't have to

A few last reminders. The first is to not sharpen a good blade into a bad one. A few strokes with the Felco sharpening tool is maintenance; a heavy filing session is how blades get ruined. The second is to not buy replacement discs from a random source without checking the arbor size and disc diameter. The grinder's guard and flange aren't universal. The third is paperwork. If a supplier can't produce a proper invoice, they're not the right supplier, no matter how good the price looks.

I once ordered generic springs to save a few dollars. Not ideal. They fit, but the tension was wrong, and one had rust spots after a month. I should add that the correct Felco spring costs more, but it's predictable. Put another way: buying the wrong spare part is just deferred downtime.

I'm not saying every order has to be perfect. There's always something. But if you follow these five steps—matching the tool to the job, verifying the supplier, sharpening on schedule, stocking springs, and maintaining the workshop kit—the season has a much better chance of running smoothly.

Start there. That's the checklist I wish I'd had five years ago.