Good Ratchet Pruner for the Trad Bowhunter?

[Hawkeye]

In my 20 years with the recurve, I've had two decent pairs of hand-held ratchet pruners to clear smaller branches from shooting lanes (and also two LOUSY pairs!).  The lousy ones would not cut "squat" and were soon ruined, and the good ones finally broke, or wore out after pushing the limit on way too many 1" branches.

My second pair has served well for 6 years or so, but the ratchet is no longer working properly.  They are the anvil-type that I prefer, and pretty "beefy" in design, but I see no marks on them to indicate a manufacturer.  I got them long ago from a booth at a farm show.

Does anyone here have some favorite pruners they would recommend? I'm in the market!

Thanks,

Daryl

[Rob W.]

Fiskars are my favorite. I use them to split rib cages as well.


Rob

[Hawkeye]

Oops, hit "quote" instead of "edit"!   :rolleyes:

[non-typical]

After buying, trying and using many different brands I picked up a pair of Bahco hand pruners. Liked them so much I bought a second pair to carry on my tractor. You can order them to fit your hand and pick the size head to put on them. They are not cheap but they are the very best I've ever used.

[huntmaster70]

I to have had a few hand pruners,most of them only fair at best with a couple total junk. I bought "E-Z Kut" ratchet pruners last year at Denton Hill & am totaly amazed at how well they work!This is my second year with them-have cut hundreds of branches-& still work like new! I think they were $20.00 with a extra blade.You won't be sorry with these. Check out the website.

[Bladepeek]

If I don't need something on a long pole, I like my machete - never wears out, easy to sharpen, works on heavy grass too  

[hunthold]

The ez kut pruner and treehoppers ratchet pruner both work extremely well. A must have item for building blinds and trimming holes..

[KentuckyTJ]

X3 on the E-Z Kut! Simply the best!

 http://www.ezkutproducts.com/products.php

[foxbo]

Florian are the ones I use and they have a life time warranty. I bought them years ago when I asked Gene Wensel what brand he used.

[Hoyt]

I've got a pair of Fiskars anvil I got at Walmart for about $8.00 more than 10yrs ago. Just as good as when I got them and I use them a whole lot.

[Hawkeye]

Thanks everyone for the helpful responses!

The E-Z Kut is the first decent pruner that I had, and they served faithfully until my old farm boy grip broke a pin in the mechanism after repeatedly cutting bigger-than-I-ought-to branches.  I know they would still be great if I took the trouble to send them for repair.  (By the way, I also have a set of the big Loppers they sell, and it is a terrific tool for bigger stuff.)

I figured out that the second good pair I've used in recent years is the Clauss Heavy Duty.  They have also taken a lot of abuse on bigger branches.  I may have given them a bit of new life simply by lubing up all the pivot points to get the ratchet moving very freely.  They did a lot better this evening.

Thanks again for some good options.  If I decide to buy a backup pair, these would be some fine choices.