From page 46
slightly thicker branches.
preventing the formation of
For branches too big to cut
blisters on one's fingers and,
with secateurs but too small to
paradoxically, bruising on the warrant removal with a saw,
palm of one's cutting hand as long-handled lopping shears
one works.
are a must. Again these
Secateurs come in two basic
should be clean and sharp.
designs, the cheaper being
And, again, they come in two
the more common scissor
types like the secateurs.
type. A more elaborate and
A small curved, fold-up
pruning saw is a useful
tool to have in one's
pocket for branches that
are too big for the
lopping shears, but which
don't warrant removal
with a chainsaw.
A carpenter's hand-saw is
not a suitable pruning
Secateurs:
Left: Scissor-type. Right: Anvil-type
tool, for a number of
reasons. Firstly, unless its
therefore expensive version
teeth
are designed to cut wet
uses a lever action, which
wood
a carpenter's saw will
exerts more force on to the
quickly
clog with damp
blade than can be achieved
cuttings
as one works.
by a scissor type. Effectively
Secondly,
as it clogs it will
this means one needs to
tend
to
stick
with the danger
apply less force to the cutting,
that
the
flexible
blade will be
leading to less fatigue on the
hands. And it also means the bent as one attempts to force
the saw to work. Thirdly, the
lever types can be used on
sheer height and
length of the blade
of a carpenter's saw
means that it will
inevitably bump into
branches and limbs
that one doesn't
wish to cut,
damaging the bark
in the process.
Thus, for the
complete removal of
dead limbs, a
chainsaw is required, and
specialist arborist models are
available that make maneuvering the saw around and
within the branches of the
tree easier.
If your trees are
particularly tall, for
example
certain
Pole pruners:
Above: powered-type
Right: manual
47
www.sasmallholder.co.za
PRUNING
Fold-up
pruning
saw
species of nuts, olives etc, you
may wish to invest in a pole
pruner. Two types are to be
had, namely manual and
motorised. The
manual ones are
basically a lopping
shear head
attached to a pole,
with the blade of
the shear activated
by pulling a cord
on a lever to
increase the cutting
force.
Powered pole
Continued on page 48