From the Swiss maker of the ultimate garden handtools, comes the Felco 12 rotating handle pruning secateurs.
The Swiss have made the world's best garden tools for many decades and now they have come up with a new design in their ubiquitous secateur range that features a rotating handle.
And the first question we ask is ‘Why?’
Well its all to do with the ergonomics of squeezing ! It's all about the tendons and muscles in our fingers that do all the hard work of pruning.
With a rolling or rotating handle the pressure on the finger muscles is reduced as the fingers roll over the handle rather than having to create a ‘pinch’ action. In effect it transfers the effort more towards the knuckle. It's very simple and we can tell you it is also very effective.
We test drove a pair of these over a busy weekend of pruning - made up of very soft Syzigium stems, medium soft green Hibiscus stems and harder native Banksia stems and branches and I can report that they were a delight to use.
I have some arthritis in my wrist and too much heavy pruning can become a little painful after a while - but not with these. My wife also tried them and she reported that these secateurs suited her smaller hands better than the Felco2 pair of mine she often borrows. !!
They have the micrometric adjuster as seen on many of the newer Felco secateurs and excellent rubber buffers too.
As with all Felco tools, they are not cheap (by any means), but essentially you buy once and they last a lifetime.