First time with the Haus and Garten bypass pruner brand. My brand loyalty goes to Corona forged steel and their entire line of garden tools. My drool-worthy choice would be Felco pruners. However for the average home gardener - as am I - Felcos are overkill and cost double to triple for the same model of tools. I tried my new Haus and Garten bypass pruners, here’s the verdict: Very Good to Excellent. (If Felco’s are an A+ these are easily B+ to A-). I spent a few hours filling two 95 gallon bins. Very nice, smooth and clean cuts for dry branches up to 1/2” and all the way to 1” on green branches. Twigs, stems, small bush branches, small palms and ornamentals, piece of cake, no resistance. On large queen palm fronds 7ft to 9 ft little effort up to 3/4” but I used a pruner on anything over that, you just need a bigger too. Used correctly, no fatigue factor - ergonomics are great. The blade and the hook stayed clean, but what I was cutting had very little if no sap so I can’t comment on that. After use I cleaned with isopropyl alcohol on those 1-1/2” white bandage pads I had laying around. They cleaned up, you can’t tell they were used (try that on the lesser brands). I used a drop of mineral oil to put on a thin film to protect surfaces and a drop on the hinge. A tip, save the package the pruners can in and use as their storage case. I put in a couple white gauze pads for the next cleaning. These are made of Japanese grade stainless steel with a titanium coating, far more durable than forged steel which is prone to oxidize, dull and more difficult to clean. I’m hoping for a long time before needing sharpen. A comment on my Coronas: In my opinion Coronas would be included in the top five, no doubt. Coronas last, most of my Coronas are over 35-years, and not worse-for-wear, just a nice rust patina on them. Downside, they must be sharpened regularly either with very fine tanged flat file or a 400 - 600 grit whet stone. A necessary maintenance hassle. But to make any garden tool last and keep working properly, they all must have a sharp edge, just like any knife.
