Fiskars Wants To Give You Stuff, and Who Are We To Stop Them?

Do you remember last year when we reviewed some Fiskars tools and gave a few away?  Remember those PowerGear Loppers?   I wrote about them here, and Gen wrote about them at North Coast Gardening.  Now that I've had a pair for a year or so, I can tell you that they are quite sturdy and very useful--they're big enough to be able to whack back anything in my garden, but they're also surprisingly light and easy to carry around.  Good stuff.

Well, Fiskars just wants you to have more tools.  So they asked us if we'd give another pair away.  Uh--yeah!  Sure, why not?

Here's the video we did last year if you want to know exactly how these things work.  To win, just post a comment with any pruning-related tale, or any sob story about why you so desperately need to upgrade your pruning tools. 

Oh--and--Gen's giving away a pair, too, so head over there if you want a little more action.

Comments

[Deborah B]

We have 200 acres here in upstate NY, and one pair of geriatric lopers that my husband and I fight over. I use them in the garden on various overgrown shrubs and to beat back the vicious blackberries and multi-flora roses in nearby fields. My husband takes them on the 4-wheeler to do trail maintenance in the woods. He sharpens our lopers periodically, but they always seem duller than oatmeal whenever I get ahold of them (whenever I can find where he left them, that is). I would so love these Fiskars.

[Jackie Mitchell]

I need a pair, pick me......

[Amy R]

I finally have a yard of my own and plants of my own. New fruit trees and vines deserve shiny new tools! Time to phase out the rusty, dull hodgepodge of second hand implements and get some tools that actually do the job.

[Nell Jean]

Fiskars products have long been a fav of mine. I wish I'd bought Fiskars post hole diggers back when I first saw them. I use a pair with wood handles that like my old loppers are heavy and hard on ancient wrists. Maybe Fiskars might want me to talk about how old people compensate for failing abilities with levers and gears and hydraulics.

[Erica / Northwest Edible Life]

Why do I need to upgrade my tools? Because even though I know better I leave my sh!t out in the rain, drop clippers in garden beds, loose pruners under broccoli leaves for weeks at a time, and generally take very poor care of whatI have. Once I found a two-year-gone pairing knife in the compost. Thank god for stainless steel. All of this might be an argument to not give me anything nice until I learn to take better care of what I have already (thanks, Mom) but then again, maybe you will pick a winner at random. ;)

Thanks for the shot, in any event. If I win I'll try to be a better person and take care of my shiny new tool.

[Rachel Hoff]

We actually just killed our pair by snapping them in half. We haven't had the cash on hand to buy a new sturdier pair which means our fruit trees had to go without proper pruning this year.

[tropeaolum]

I won the lopers last year and I have to say they are great! Short handles, which makes it easier to get inside of a shrub.

The only problem is that my dad keeps stealing them.

[barbara]

Because that nasty snow Monday left me with lots of broken branches to trim up? Hoping for a little upstate solidarity here....

[A Facebook User]

No sob story, just want a pair and have exhausted my gardening budget.

[Salud Garcia]

My ten-year-old daughter discovered pruning last weekend and I could barely convince her to come inside for lunch! I'd love it if she could have a really good pruner to work with and make gardening that much more fun!

[Jenny C]

I'm a weakling. I need a lighter pair so I can get the work done.

[dawn]

Soon it will be time for me to attack some of the spring flowering shrubs in my yard and my cheap pruners have had it.

[Vicky Gorny]

I live in the Pacific northwest where English ivy is a dreadful invasive species. When it climbs trees the vines can get as thick as your arm. The community gets together occasionally to clear sections of a nearby county park of this pest. We then plant native species. Any extra tools, especially good quality ones would speed the task. Free the trees!

[meg]

I have a pair of loppers purchased many many years ago at a garage sale that are so dull and funky that the last time I used them on the lilacs, I had to wait for someone with more upper body strength to come along and finish the cut as they were stuck halfway through the branch, locked in place. Needless to say it was a sad case of tree abuse that i do not wish to repeat.

[Nancy]

As a new owner of a terribly neglected (but soon to be paradise) garden, pruners are my best friend. And a girl can never have too many friends!

[A. Marina Fournier]

Mark, love your way with words!

[A. Marina Fournier]

Fred, you have my sympathy for the loss of your best-bearing apple.

[A. Marina Fournier]

I don't have arthritis, but I'm aging (aren't we all!), my upper body strength is a little less than the average woman's. I've had loppers, but the people who use them in my yard never listen to the "put them back on the hooks in the garage" lecture, so they're quite rusted, and I need a new pair.

These look ideal--lightweight, longer/wider reach, and easier on the muscles involved in their operation. I really appreciate the reviews, esp. with videos so you can see for yourself, that you give for various tools.

Jessica, I'm with you--a neglected yard is like a blank canvas. I don't think the previous owners of our first home did ANYTHING with the lot, save water. I was in hog heaven! After we'd been there six years, the front yard was a big draw for buyers, and when the former owners came by to check on the house, they admired the change. The palm was healthier than when they left, too.

This house, I've had to rip out a few things I didn't care for (doing my best to find them new homes first) in order to put something in that would increase my pleasure, not to mention curb appeal. Last week, it would have been idea for the Google Street View folk to come by & take pictures, given the first massive bloom of my roses after dormancy. The photo before we moved in would have only shown bland generica instead of my semi-circle of roses with scent (and names!) backed by the hedge of rosemaries and lavenders (instead of privet).

[Amanda]

Oooooh, to be able to cut through a small branch with those babies! No more sore hands and arms after a rhodie pruning attempt? Please, sign me up!

[Linda]

I certainly need one of these. My husband can no longer do the amount of pruning that needs to be done on our 20 acres. These seem to be able to add some "muscle" that I need. I love my Fiskars hand pruners!

[Nina S.]

This is nice synchronicity - I'm off after breakfast to prune my friend's privet, maples, and dead wood that are blocking her sight lines to the back of her garden. I want to bring out the little Japanese Maple that is being overwhelmed by the bigger stuff, and sculpt openings in the thickets to reveal what's behind them - just a hint.

Can't wait to attack the privet, though I know it's going to bounce right back by the end of the summer. I've always theorized that a woman with pruners, duct tape, and maybe a cordless drill can rule the world.

[lauren scheuer]

My Grandpa Allan duct-taped two slender pieces of wood to his old loppers to extend the handles. With these loppers he stood on the top rung of a wooden stepladder and pruned his 12-foot-high Privet hedge with scary precision. By the time he got to the end of that long hedge, it was time to start at the beginning and do it all over again. He swore against the electric gadgets- they just don't do the job right. He kept those pruners sharp and clean. Grandpa Allan pruned right into his nineties, and after his funeral I ran into his garage and claimed those pruners. They worked great for a few years, but now they're dull as butter knives. I think it's time to hang them in the shed in a place of honor and see if Fiskars will send me a newfangled pair.

[beachbird]

I bought a pair of these last year and they didn't last a season. I will never buy Fiskars again... buy Felcos; they last a lifetime and any part can be replaced.

[naomi]

The shell gingers, spent and falling to the ground - each eight to twelve feet; the Queen Palm, her lower branches dropping down yet majestically resisting any of my current tools; and the bougainvillea - it can resist any cuts, coming back at me with more branches when pruned and sticking more thorn tips in me when I try. I've been thinking I might need a chainsaw for some of these things. Best to all.

[Donna Lane]

As I age, my arm strength has waned and arthur visits more frequently than I'd like. I'd love a pair of those loppers so I can tackle the many pruning chores I've neglected. It looks like they have some sort of ratchet action that might help this aging gardener ... so much to do ...