Tools of the Trade - Felco Pruners

I received something in the mail last week that made me feel like I had graduated to the next level of amateur gardener.

No longer am I just a guy that plays around in his yard and writes about it on a blog.  Now I'm a guy that plays around in my yard, writes about it on my blog, and invests money in tools that I don't necessarily need.

For the last two years I've been quite pleased with my ergonomic Fiskars pruners.  They are comfortable to use thanks to a rotating bottom handle, they seem durable enough, and they do their job.

But the more time I spent on garden forums and reading gardening blogs the more I began to recognize a pattern among longtime gardeners.

That pattern was that these experienced gardeners kept mentioning their fondness for their Felco pruners.  That there might be something special about these pruners started registering with me when I read things like "if I could keep only one tool it would be my #8 Felco pruners" or "I bought Felco pruners 20 years ago and they still work great today" or "If Felco pruners were human, I'd totally marry mine."  I may have embellished a little bit on that last example but the sentiment is accurate.  And the point is, I don't recall anyone ever whispering or typing a disparaging word about their Felco pruners.

My old pruners worked just fine, but things had gotten stale between us.

Adding to their mystique was the fact that I couldn't find a seller locally.  Home Depot doesn't carry them, my favorite Garden Centers didn't have them, and they certainly weren't turning up on garage sale tables so I went to the Internet (God Bless the Internet) and purchased a pair through Amazon.com after researching them on Felco's web site.

It's a little disconcerting to spend $45-$60 for a pair of pruners without the benefit of holding them in your hand first so if you don't have that luxury, I recommend that you spend some time reading through all the descriptions of the different models Felco produces.  Each model has it's own number - mine are Felco 2s.  And each model has a different size or distinguishing feature that you may find more useful or better tailored to your specific needs.  They even have pruners specifically designed for left-handed users which is a good thing because my favorite bar has a poster over the urinal that says that each year 2,500 left-handed people are killed using tools designed for right-handers.  And if it's hanging over a urinal in a dive bar, you know it's serious.  (Not to get too sidetracked, but here's The Straight Dope's take on lefties dying young.)

I chose the Felco 2 model because it is designed for manly Paul Bunyan-like hands such as mine.  It also has the benefit of each part of the pruner being easily replaceable.  Cool features include a notch for cutting small wires without worrying about dulling the cutting edge.  It also has a sap groove feature that is supposed to keep the blades from getting sticky.  I haven't figured out how that works yet though.

They are Swiss made.  It says so right on the forged aluminum.

As for how highly I will prize my right-handed, specially-selected-for-me pruners, I will let time be the ultimate judge.  But after just a week of use, I can attest that they feel good in the hand, they cut sharply and easily, and they feel like quality objectified.  But that might be just the euphoria of a new long term relationship talking.