If you have shrubs, trees, and hedges in your yard, you'll need a good pair of loppers as part of your pruning toolkit. Loppers are long-handled tools designed to cut thicker stems than pruning shears and are primarily used to trim overgrown shrubs and smaller tree branches.
Loppers have either bypass or anvil blades, which are better for live or dead material, respectively. Different types of loppers also have telescopic handles to prune harder-to-reach places or ratchet mechanisms for additional cutting power. The best pruning tool for you depends on what you’ll be cutting, whether you need extra reach, and your budget.
This guide to the best loppers highlights the best options on the market. Each has features to help you tackle a wide range of pruning jobs around the garden and the potential to be a go-to tool for years to come.
Most gardeners need a standard set of bypass loppers for the bulk of their pruning. If you have a property with shrubs and small ornamental or fruit trees, a strong, durable tool with bypass blades will be the best loppers for you. There are lots of these on the market, but few (if any) do it better than the Fiskars PowerGear2 loppers.
A bypass pair of loppers has a sharp, curved upper blade that glides past a lower blade. It is the best blade type for cutting living stems or branches without damaging or crushing them.
The Fiskars PowerGear2 loppers can prune branches up to two inches thick with their fully hardened steel blade. To make cutting easier, a low-friction titanium coating ensures the blade cuts smoothly through stems and PowerGear technology optimizes the tool’s cutting power.
It all adds up to it being a powerful tool for pruning shrubs, trees, or hedges with ease. And the trimming should be comfortable, as the loppers have ergonomic steel handles with soft grips.
By design, the longer handles of loppers make them useful for reaching awkward spots, such as the center of dense shrubs to reach tricky stems or higher branches, and for cutting thicker stems than even the best pruners.
For further extended reach, extendable or telescopic loppers allow you to get even further into tall shrubs or trees, without needing to scale a ladder to prune from.
The Corona ComfortGEL extendable loppers have bypass blades for cutting live or dead branches up to 1 ½-inches in diameter and handles that extend from 28 to 35 inches. The extra reach allows you to work safely from the ground and feel in control when pruning higher branches.
The handles have an ergonomic shape and cushioning gel material to prevent any pain or fatigue when trimming. While many telescopic pruning tools have handles that extend via a twisting system, these have lightweight steel handles with easy-flip latches to extend and lock them in place.
A pricier alternative that can cut branches up to two inches thick is this Zenport telescoping ratchet bypass lopper at The Home Depot. The ratchet mechanism gives more cutting power and the handles can be extended up to 35 inches via a mechanism where you press a button and lock the handle into one of six holes.
An anvil blade has a single cutting blade that meets a flat metal base. It works great at cutting thicker or tougher material. However, anvil loppers don’t make clean cuts and bruise live, delicate plant tissue, so they are suitable only for cutting dead stems or branches.
It is a pruning mistake to use anvil loppers on living tissue; it damages stems and can leave plants susceptible to pests or diseases.
If you regularly deal with lots of deadwood on your property, a set of anvil loppers may be an essential gardening tool. They can do the brunt of the hard work rather than relying on a single pair of bypass loppers for everything.
The Tabor Tools anvil loppers make light work of dead wood up to two inches thick. The tool has carbon steel blades with a non-stick coating and extra-long 30-inch handles for extra leverage. The loppers also have a compound cutting system for extra power.
With good care, the tool should last you many years. But you can get replacement cutting blades if needed.
For the toughest pruning tasks, ratchet loppers help make cutting easier. These tools have a ratchet mechanism that divides the cut into shorter steps. It amplifies the force, making it easier to cut thicker branches.
The Spear & Jackson 8290RS loppers feature carbon steel anvil blades for cutting branches up to two inches in diameter. The ratcheting action cuts in four short steps rather than a single action, increasing the force and making trimming tougher deadwood much simpler.
The lightweight aluminum handles are telescopic, ranging from 27 to 41 inches to reach taller growth, and have soft, non-slip grips for enjoyable pruning.
If you invest in good tools, you want to make sure to look after them. That includes cleaning garden tools after use, sharpening pruning tools so they work efficiently, and storing them away properly. Any cutting implements need sharpening and oiling before you store tools for winter to keep them in good condition. Any time you use them over the winter months, clean and oil them again before putting them back in the shed.
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