Corona Professional Bypass Pruner BP6190

 I bought a pair of Corona Professional Bypass Pruner (BP6190).   They
are forged, heat-treated, cushioned grips, 1" cutting capacity, and a
shock absorbing bumper.   Out of the box, I started trimming my sage
bush, removing all the dead branches.  These pruners locked up.  The
cutting edge curled over preventing the pruners to close.  I sanded
the edge, and continued pruning.  Same thing happens.  My guess is
these have not been heat-treated.  These are going to be returned to
Lowes and I'm getting my $25 back.  Figures, these are made in Taiwan.
Any recommendations for good by-pass pruners?  I think I prefer "Made
in USA,"  under $30 if possible.  TIA

 You may find a good pair of coronas , I think you got one that was
poorly heat treated.
Who knows what the big box stores get shipped.
Step up a notch to an over 30$ pair and you can have some Okatsune
shears.
http://gallery.bcentral.com/GID4789397P2882982-Tools/Pruners/Okatsune/OK0101-1.aspx
Or even better coronas
http://gallery.bcentral.com/GID4789397P2882855-Tools/Pruners/Corona/COBP6250-C.aspx
As for cutting capacity just because 1" will fit inside the jaws
doesn't make it so.
My speedometer goes past 120 but my car won't ;ast very long at that
speed either.
Go see what   www.leevalley.com   has also, they tend to avoid junk.
The box stores ain't gonna carry the better tools because they move out
the door slower than the crap ones.

 On 12 Mar 2006 09:40:40 -0800, bamboo@localnet.com wrote:


I had one pair of Coronas go bad -- can't remember what was the
problem; I think it was my fault.  I sent them back with a polite
letter and they sent a replacement.

Persephone

 Here the shop is a bit more evolved, if I can guess at the type of
steel I can usually reharden and temper it.
But you shouldn't have to.

Life is too short to work with cheap tools.

Tom
Daily Grind Sharpening Service

 On Sun, 12 Mar 2006 17:18:09 +0000, Phisherman wrote:


Good day,
I by corona's for my workers due to their good quality and cheaper cost.
I've never had that type of issue with corona before. I buy the cheaper
line down from the BP6190 and never had a quality issue.
The only reasons I could see the pruner's failure would be that you got a
bad one or there was some sort of 'twisting' action that was applied when
cutting through the hard, dead wood. This could of bent the blade edge and
caused the pruner to fail.

If you could find the money for them, I would suggest that you look at the
Felco brand pruners. These (IMHO) are the best pruners on the market.
Evey piece of a Felco can be removed and replaced. I use the Felco 13,
which are a two handed pruner designed for smaller hands / women. My hands
are large and the felco 13 fit just right in my hand which is rare for me.

Felco's in your price range would be:

Felco 400 pruner  $31.49

Felco 5 pruner   $29.74

http://www.felcostore.com/pruners.jsp

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