Loppers are pruners with long handles and solid blades for clipping thicker branches that ordinary hand shears cannot cut. This tool prunes overgrowths, thins out dense foliage, deadhead flowers, and cuts soft and hard offshoots. The long handles let you cut accurately at a greater height and tight spaces.

In 1923 Walther Schroder invented the world's first anvil shear – LÖWE 1. Ever since then, the Original LÖWE principle of drawing cut against a solid base has been continually refined.

Loppers are essentially a pair of large, long handled secateurs, capable of taking on stems which would be too thick for even your very best secateurs. Ideal for the autumn and winter pruning period, loppers are designed to cut branches up to around 50mm thick.

The Two Types of Loppers In terms of their type of cutting action, loppers fall into the same two types as hand pruners: bypass and anvil.

Loppers come in two types of cutting styles: bypass and anvil. Scissor-like bypass blades are especially effective on live, green branches. Anvil blades have a single sharp cutting blade that is perfect for stiff dead branches.

Almost every gardener owns a hand pruner, also called hand shears. That's the scissor-sized tool to clip thinner branches or stems, deadhead flowers, and take off soft shoots. So, what are loppers used for? Loppers are super-sized pruners.

In terms of their type of cutting action, loppers fall into the same two types as hand pruners: bypass and anvil. Bypass loppers, the most common kind, have a single-edged blade that slices past a thick base as it closes.

Loppers come with a range of handle lengths, from shorter 15” or 18” loppers to 32” or longer. Lopper length affects the amount of leverage you have – longer loppers give you more leverage, making it easier to cut through thicker branches.

• BEST FOR DRY WOOD: Tabor Tools GG12A Compound Action Anvil Lopper.
• BEST FOR BROKEN BRANCHES: Spear & Jackson Heavy-Duty Telescopic Anvil Lopper.
• BEST POLE LOPPER: Fiskars Pruning Stik Extendable Tree Pruner.
• ALSO CONSIDER: Wolf-Garten RR900T Telescoping Bypass Lopper.

The Fiskars bypass lopper is an ideal choice for heavy-duty cutting tasks. Its length is 28 inches with a cut capacity of 1-1/2-inch-thick branches. Non-slip comfort grips make this lopper easier to hold, carry and maneuver when cutting at awkward angles.

Pollarding - The practice of regularly cutting back a tree's crown down to bare branches. It's used to maintain the shape and height of a tree while it's young.

Length and Weight Lopper handles come in many different sizes, most commonly ranging from 15" to 32". The length of the handle controls the amount of leverage - the longer the handle the greater the leverage. In most cases, though, the longer the handles the heavier the lopper.

Loppers are categorized based on their blades, either anvil or bypass. Each type works better on different types of stems and branches. Anvil loppers feature a stationary base (anvil) with a groove. They have a movable sharpened blade that presses into the groove when trimming branches.

scissors Loppers are a type of scissors used for pruning twigs and small branches, like pruning shears with very long handles. They are the largest type of manual garden cutting tool.