Figured I should add this here since it swayed my decision this spring to order a pair of ARS to use instead of my felcos. The felcos I bought last spring left me disappointed as they were pretty expensive and needed to be sharpened out of the box. They would not cleanly cut a piece of wood. Always leaving a tear. I sharpened them and they have been cleanly cutting now. Anyways after reading this post I decided I should try ARS. These things came to me very sharp and did an amazing job right out of the box, perfectly clean cuts, little effort. However, I’m disappointed that when trimming water sprouts yesterday I chipped the blade already cutting a 5/8" sprout off my apple tree. Probably a trade off for having something so crazy sharp is that the blade will be more brittle. Anyways, I think I still want another pair of these, I just wont risk it on anything over half inch. I’ll use my loppers a little more often and take the trade off of having a more brittle blade but so effortless on the smaller cuts.
I don’t understand how you could chip the blade by cutting wood. I’ve been using those pruners for over a decade for thousands of work hours in all kinds of weather (winter and summer) and the only time I’ve chipped the blades is when I dropped a pair on hard ice in very cold weather- , also once when I didn’t see some stainless steel wire.
You probably might as well buy a new pair, changing the blades is a real PIA and the blade and hook come together and are almost as expensive as the whole thing.
I wondered that too. Could he have gotten hold of a knock-off?
I wonder if you got a knock off. My ARS come out of the box sharp enough to remove a finger!
The damage is also visible on the counter blade, which is strange.
I have the same pruners and 5/8" apple shoots should be no problem. I use mine for roses, vines, currants, blueberries, young trees. For thicker branches I use Felco 31 anvil pruners. Both are great.
Could be knock offs. They did come in a red and green package with ARS on the package. From what I read the knock offs dont arrive that way. I made sure the seller on amazon was from Japan also something I read on here. I suppose even the best brands will have some defects here and there, so that could just be it. Also, they are crazy sharp, I dont know if I’ve ever held a knife as sharp. I just did more pruning today with the felcos that I bought last year and the cuts are not as clean or as easy to make. My new ARS will be here Thursday.
I see that too now that you pointed it out. The blade must have chiped when meeting? Maybe i twisted the handle while squeezing and bent the edge… idk
Yeah, there is a chance it came out of the factory with the blade and hook too loose. That kind of damage can happen then but the looseness should be pretty obvious. There shouldn’t be any play when you put sideways push and pull on the handles.
More likely to happen if it’s a fake one. I’ve ordered probably 20 of them over the years, for myself and my help and none have ever come with any defects or manufacturing flaws.
Anyone try this? On sale for $90
I don’t know what the ones on the right are, but brings back some memories, as my mom had a pair of those when I was growing up. I’m sure they’re still around.
That brand name is Wilkinson. Mine been in use for over 40 years, given To me by an old timer, who passed away. Hard telling how old this thing is.
For anyone as curious as I was, the hand pruner on the left in the picture that @aap posted earlier is a “Manaresi 6992021”.
Thank you! I was wondering what it was! The guy in the pear orchard pruning videos that someone posted on another thread (I think Alan?) was also using something like this. Will research this brand/model.
FWIW I followed the growtech link for the ARS and at the bottom of the grow tech page they link to www.wood-avenue.com. On that site, you have to use the menus to find the right product. Seems like it’s selling for about $64 with $9 shipping to California.
Great post!
I was wondering if anyone here has tried the VS9 for “larger hands”. I don’t know what that means. I’m tall and definitely have “larger hands” but I’m not sure if that means it’s for me 
…
I currently use a standard Felco 2.
I use a similar Italian double bladed hand pruner to perform splice grafts because it is great for making the long angular cuts required in this simplest of grafting methods- otherwise my ARS VS 8 is a superior pruner for my purposes. A sharp, single blade bypass pruner should make clean enough cuts for all practical purposes and is easier to keep sharp. Double bladed ones will gradually be damaged by normal sharpening because the blades cannot remain exactly even and continue to meet without small gaps if you are sharpening them by hand. At least, I am not that much of a sharpening master.
By all means go with the VS9’s.
I have both 8 & 9, the 9’s are more comfortable and I wouldn’t consider my hands that large.
FWIW, I see that the Okatsune 103 pruner is $30.00 at Amazon; makes you wonder if it’s real.
The best anything quickly becomes more a discussion about favorites.
Of course, the ones I use are The Best. I wouldn’t settle for anything else. yep, the tongue is firmly planted in the cheek.
I’ve used Felco for a long time. My personal favorites are the 13, because my hands are rather larger than most.
I’ve also been duly impressed by the ARS VS series.
I keep corona on hand for people to borrow, because if they don’t get returned, I really don’t care. If your close enough to me to borrow my tools, you’re close enough to buy me beer until you return them. Still…things happen.
My favorite pruner of all time is a star 45 from campagnola, although a new front runner is the dewalt battery pruner. pop a battery in and go, beats having to lug a compressor and hoses. still, in the right situation, pneumatic are hard to beat.
Thank you! That’s super helpful.