Few gardeners would deny the absolute indispensability of a good pair of hand pruners. You can trim soft stems with a good pair of scissors or flower shears, but sooner or later you're going to have to trim there, or chop off hard woody stems, and you'll be glad you have the right tools. With a good pair of hand pruners (or maybe a few), you can handle the vast majority of small branches.

Here are three things to consider when choosing a pair of hand pruners.

Operating Style

There are basically three types of hand pruners: bypass, anvil, and ratchet. Bypass garden pruners are probably the most popular, for good reason. This tool makes a nice clean cut using two curved blades that bypass each other in the same manner as scissor blades. One blade is sharpened on the outside edge, and it cuts as it slides tightly across a thicker unsharpened blade.

In contrast, anvil garden pruners have a single straight cutting blade that closes down on a flat edge or anvil. Anvil pruners have a slicing action similar to a knife against a cutting board and work well removing brittle dead wood but not so well on flexible green wood. They tend to be a bit bulkier than bypass pruners, making it more difficult to get in close for crotch cuts.

Ratchet garden pruners are basically anvil pruners with a mechanism that performs the cutting action in stages. Ratchet style hand pruners offer more leverage for smaller or weaker hands or for when you are cutting bigger, tougher stems. If you will be doing a great deal of pruning, ratchet pruners might save your hand and wrist some strain and fatigue.

Which style is better? Each style has its advantages, but the bypass hand pruners are usually the best choice for most home gardeners due to the tightness and cleanliness of the pruning. If possible, you should try out or at least hold a pruner before you buy. Get a feel for the feel, weight and ease of grip.

Experienced gardeners will likely choose to have two or more pairs of hand pruners - either several different sized bypass pruners or a cutting board pruner to be used with a bypass pruner.

Cost

The price of pruners varies widely, ranging from a few dollars to tens of dollars. As with any other tool, buying the best tool you can afford will save you effort and money in the long run.

Look for keywords such as "professional" or "heavy-duty". These styles of blades should be made of highly tempered carbon steel that can be sharpened over and over again. You'll also want manual pruners that have interchangeable parts. It is, after all, a mechanical device, and parts will eventually wear out.

If so, it is worthwhile to have a leather holster for the expensive pruning shears you have so carefully chosen to purchase. It's easy for your precious pruning shears to accidentally fall into a garbage bag or compost pile, and this is less likely to happen if you have a handy holster strapped to your belt. Another useful accessory is a sharpening stone for sharpening knives. Some manufacturers may offer sharpening stones specifically designed for their blades.

Ergonomics

Pruning can wear out the hardest working hands, but if you're already at a disadvantage with carpal tunnel or arthritis, you should look at ergonomically designed Pruner styles. There are cushioned handles to reduce stress, swivel handles to reduce wear and tear on the wrist, and even models that tilt horizontally to keep the hand in a neutral position without bending. Left-handed gardeners have not been forgotten either. Although very few in number, there are usually models designed specifically for them.

Take the time to carefully select the right hand pruners that will cut cleanly, easily and comfortably in your hand. When you're cleaning up winter damage this spring, you'll thank yourself for investing the time and money to find the right tool.