How to Choose Pruning Shears: A 7-Step Checklist from Someone Who Buys Them on Deadlines

In September 2024, 48 hours before our vineyard's pruning window opened, I got the call. The equipment shed had been broken into. Eleven pairs of shears, three loppers, and the spare parts box were gone.

Replacement order from our usual supplier? Fourteen days. We had forty-eight hours.

In my role coordinating equipment for vineyard operations, I've handled hundreds of rush tool orders in 12 years—including same-day turnarounds for growers who showed up with a crew and no usable shears. When you're triaging an emergency like that, you learn what actually matters. Not marketing claims. Not the color of the handles. The things that make a tool work, and keep working. That's the checklist I want to give you. The one I've refined over 200+ rush purchases.

Here are the 7 steps. They take five minutes to run through. They'll save you a season of frustration.

Step 1: Decide Between Bypass and Anvil Before Anything Else

Most people pick a tool by brand or price first. Wrong order. The cutting action determines what the tool is actually good for.

Bypass shears have a blade that passes by the hook, like a pair of scissors. They make clean cuts on green, living wood. Anvil shears have a blade that presses into a flat hook—they crush the stem slightly and are better for dead, dry material.

For vineyard work and most garden pruning, bypass is the answer. That's why the Felco 8 pruning shears are the industry default. The cut is precise. The vine stays healthy. No debate.

Step 2: Match the Cutting Capacity to Your Thickest Branch

Every serious pruner lists a maximum cutting capacity. The Felco 8 handles stems up to about 25 mm (1 inch). A Felco bypass lopper goes to 45 mm or more, depending on the model.

Why does this matter? Because an undersized tool is a safety issue, not just a performance issue. You fight the tool. The blade twists. Eventually, something gives—the branch, the blade, or your wrist. The International Society of Arboriculture's best management practices are clear about matching the tool to the branch. It's not a gray area.

My rule: take the thickest branch you cut regularly, and buy a tool rated for double that diameter. If you're cutting 20 mm canes, don't buy a pruner rated at 25 mm. Go bigger. Step up to a lopper if you need to.

Step 3: Fit the Handle to the Hand That Will Use It

Pruning shears are not one-size-fits-all. The Felco line exists in multiple handle sizes and configurations for a reason.

The Felco 8 fits an average-sized hand. The Felco 6 is smaller and lighter, built for people with smaller hands. The Felco 7 has an adjustable handle. If you're buying for a crew, you need to know your crew's hands—not just your own.

Simple test: open the blades and wrap your hand around the grip. If your fingers all make contact and your index finger reaches the trigger, it fits. If your pinky hangs off the end, it's too big. Move down a size. It took me three seasons and about 200 replacement orders to understand that handle fit matters more than any spec sheet number. It does.

Step 4: Check Whether the Blade Can Be Replaced

Here's the thing nobody tells you when you buy your first pair of shears: the blade is a wearing part. It dulls. It gets nicked. It eventually needs to be swapped out.

On a cheap pair of shears, the blade is riveted in place. The spring is molded in. The tool is designed to be thrown away when something wears out. On a Felco, every component is replaceable—blade, spring, handle, bolt, bumper. You can rebuild the entire tool with a screwdriver.

This is why the upfront price makes sense. The Felco 8 runs $55–70 (based on major online retailer quotes, January 2025; verify current pricing before you order). Spread that over 20 years of service, and the cost per season is trivial.

Step 5: Don't Dismiss the Ratchet Mechanism

This is where the industry has genuinely evolved. What was a niche feature decades ago is now a practical advantage that every professional buyer should test before dismissing it.

A ratchet mechanism lets you cut thick branches in stages. You squeeze. The blade cuts partway. The 72-tooth ratchet holds that progress with a click. You relax your hand, squeeze again, and cut deeper with each cycle. Instead of one explosive burst of force, you apply steady pressure over several squeezes.

For a seasoned arborist whose wrists have already done 25 seasons? This changes everything. For a young crew member who thinks they're indestructible? It prevents the injuries they don't see coming.

The fundamentals of good pruning haven't changed. Sharp blade. Clean cut. Correct placement. But the execution has transformed—ratchet mechanisms, ergonomic pivots, replaceable parts. All serving the same goal: cutting accurately without destroying the person doing the cutting.

Step 6: Verify Spare Parts Availability Before You Need It

Boring question, I know. But when a spring snaps mid-season—and it will, eventually—you need to know where the replacement is coming from.

Felco's spare parts system is the reason I can order a spring for a Felco 8 and have it in three days. Replacement springs, blades, and handles are standard inventory items, not special orders.

When I'm evaluating a tool for our crew, I check parts availability before I check the price. A tool you can't repair isn't an asset. It's a liability waiting to fail. Total cost of ownership includes the purchase price, the replacement parts, and the downtime when the tool fails. The cheapest price tag rarely wins on total cost.

(Note to self: every time you skip this step, you end up paying for it later.)

Step 7: Apply the 1990s Tool Box Test

This is the durability check no spec sheet will give you.

In our warehouse, there's a 1990s tool box that belonged to a retired crew chief. It's been opened and closed through thousands of harvests. Inside: a Felco 8 with a blade replaced twice, a spare spring still in its original wrapper, and a well-worn sharpening stone.

That Felco 8 is over 30 years old. It still cuts clean. I don't know the exact number of cuts that tool has made—don't hold me to this—but it's easily in the hundreds of thousands.

Ask your supplier: what's the oldest tool you've seen come back for parts? If the answer is "five years," that tells you something. If the answer is "thirty years," that tells you something else.

Common Mistakes I See Every Season

Before you place that order, a few warnings.

Buying on price alone. To be fair, budget constraints are real. I get why people go with the cheapest option that will "probably work." But the $20 shears from the hardware store will work for a season. Then the spring goes, the blade chips, and you can't find parts. You buy another pair. And another. The Felco 8 costs more upfront because it's the last pair you'll buy. Not once has a client regretted that math.

Skipping maintenance. I'm guilty of this one. A pruner needs cleaning and oiling—weekly if you're cutting all day. A dry blade cuts worse, dulls faster, and makes everyone miserable. Keep a sharpening file in the same toolbox as the shears. Use it.

I knew I should have checked every pair before the season started. I skipped one box because "we've done this for years—what are the odds?" The odds caught up with us. A cracked handle failed mid-cut, on a ladder. Nobody got hurt, thankfully. But that was the moment I stopped taking shortcuts with pre-season inspections.

In my opinion, the best pruning shears aren't about the logo. They're about fit, repairability, and the confidence that the tool won't let you down three hours into a twelve-hour day.

That's the checklist. Seven steps. Run through them once, and you'll choose better than most people who've been buying tools for decades.