OESCO, formerly Orchard Supply Company, is the type of business that Amazon is killing off these days, except for the fact that they sell and service a lot of heavy spray equipment for commercial orchards.
They are improbably located far from the Hudson Valley, in a rather isolated area in NW Massachusetts, that is 3 hours of driving each way from me (not counting stops). The employees are like a family and the business is built into the structure of a very old brick factory from another century, when even small creeks could be used as sources of energy for industry. I love those old brick factories.
I went there to have them service one of my Rears estate sprayers, a well-made but expensive unit with a 25 gallon stainless steel tank on bicycle wheels that includes a 4 hp Honda engine and very good Italian pump.
For me, being in their store was the equivalent of the cliche, “a child in a candy store”. I love orchard hand tools and their selection is impressive. Seeing tools on a computer screen tells you so little compared to picking one up and holding it. I have bought so many tools over the years just to test them out- a very expensive process.
After checking out several loppers, none felt quite as light or looked better engineered than the Bahco ultra light orchard loppers I currently use (they had them too). Nothing tempted me away from my ARS pruning shears, or my Silky Gomtaro pruning saw either.
Actually, that isn’t quite accurate. The ARS pruner is best used with a holster because it often accidentally opens in my pocket. I am replacing the ARS 7 with a very cheap Barnell 606 pruner, that is small and light, cuts like a samurai and has a secure closing system that operates with your thumb on your pruning hand- the way I like it. It is a bit small, even for my hands, but it’s perfect for keeping in a pocket. I also purchased a Corona scissor pruner that looked like a duplicate of an ARS tool but was under $10.
Barnell always seems to make very functional tools at a very affordable price. Another company they represent that I never heard of before called Castellari also does this. They had a similar pruning saw to my expensive Silky Gomtaro that was a fraction of the price and, according to the repairs manager, “almost as good”. I believe him, but will stick with my Silky. Castellari makes an awesome looking anvi- type loppers that I would have purchased if I didn’t already own the much more expensive ARS version. They have a compound fulcrum system that makes quick work of heavy brush.
That repairs manager taught me something very interesting about my sprayer. It provides paddle-wheel agitation that is about the only way to adequately keep Surround mixed during spraying in a powered machine. Jet agitation doesn’t stop the stuff from settling at the bottom of the sprayer. No wonder the commercial tree companies that do this never get it done right- that is, get a thick enough coat on the fruit.
They do have a pretty good web site and you can always reach a knowledgeable person on the phone there.
