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Lyme, NH

Lessons Learned the Hard Way

When heading out into the woods always take the pole saw head with you – it will keep you out of trouble and may prevent you from damaging the pruner. Also, it’s useful as a hand saw.

SAFETY! ALWAYS wear safety glasses because you will sometimes cut directly overhead. The cut branches will fall fast and with the butt ends down. The branch could hit you in an eye, teeth, or face before you have time to react. The best practice is to not look up when cutting directly overhead branch. Just let the branch fall where it may. This is where the second piece of safety equipment comes in – WEAR A HARDHAT when pruning. A small branch hitting you on the hardhat won’t hurt. However, your eyes, teeth and face are another matter!

The pruner is only for cutting branches close to the main stem where the branch is supported. The pruner is designed for this type of cut and not other pruning cuts such as further out on an unsupported branch as in fruit tree or ornamental pruning. Pushing the boundaries of the pruning head’s design will most likely cause damage to the pruner. Unsupported cuts cause blade bending and twisting.

Because of the long pole and the ability to use your body weight, very large twisting and bending forces can be created. These forces can bend the blades or worse.

You can get the pruner stuck in a tree by trying to cut too large of a limb (greater than 1” diameter) or one with a narrow crotch. Use caution with angled branches – when in doubt use the saw. The goal is to always cut as close to 90 degrees to the grain as possible. Angled cuts increase the limb diameter dramatically.

Lubricate daily. Read manufacturers instructions.

The pruner has a learning curve. In a short time, you will learn little tricks and become less awkward, and your productivity and enjoyment will increase.

Make sure the head is securely snapped into position on the pole. If not, the pole can separate from the head when pulling down to make a cut and you could end up leaving the pruning head stuck in the tree.

Use all the components of the LimbZipper system together. If you don’t have the saw, it is tempting to cut branches with acute angles with the LimbZipper head. The saw is part of the system so you can use it for the branches the pruning head isn’t designed for.