The pruning saw is a favorite tool for the gardeners other than the professional users. The pruning saw is mostly used by the gardeners in their garden for cutting branches and limbs of trees for the beautification and making the garden or trees attractive. Their main purpose is to cut down the extra branches that are growing and spreading in the surrounding area and make the tree look more attractive. Or if there are too many branches spreading around which are causing disturbances, it is the pruning saw’s use is applied here to make thing right. The pruning saw comes in different varieties. So you have to know about each type of pruning saw uses in order to work with it practically.
Quick Overview
What does a pruning saw look like?
A pruning saw is with a long blade and a curved handle which almost looks like the handle of a pistol in appearance. The TPI (teeth per inch) count of the pruning saw is generally from 5-12 TPI. There are also many variations on each part of the saw body. Some saw comes with a straight blade. Some saw comes with a curved blade. Some blades have more TPI and some have less TPI. The blades with more TPI give much smoother cuts than the blades with less TPI. Besides, the blades with more TPI can be used for cutting both thin and slightly thick lumbers. But they are most suitable for thin branches. And a blade with less TPI cannot be always used for cutting thin branches of wood. They are good in cutting thick to thicker pieces.
The pruning saw can be used for making a tight cut on curves which cannot be done by the other saws. The curved pruning saw’s body is capable of making cuts in curved areas. And if such a place comes where the blade could not be inserted for lack of space, still there is nothing to worry about. There are blades of different shapes available for various pruning saw uses. Long, short and medium lengths of blades are made for pruning saws. So where a long blade cannot be inserted, short blades can be used.
There is another special type of pruning saw for cutting branches. They are put on top of a pole for working on tall trees. They are also called pole pruning saw or also known as a pole saw.
Pruning saw safety
For using pruning saws, all the necessary protective gears must be worn. The safety equipments are as follows:
- Eye protection
- Dust mask
- Ear protection (in case of machine operated pruning saws)
- Hard hat if you are cutting above the ground or way above your head. There is a possibility of falling the lumber piece on your head. So if you do not want a hole in your skull, wear a hard hat or a helmet. And if you are using a machine operated pole saw, wearing the hard hat is a must.
- Boots
Different types of pruning saws
As I have said earlier in this article that there are different types of pruning saws available in the market for different types of cutting works. We will discuss those various kinds of pruning saws now.
Handheld saws
This is the most used type of pruning saws. It is small in size, light in weight and very easy to handle and work with. They are used for all kinds of pruning works in the house or farm or even for professional works.
Straight blade saws
From the name you can easily guess what this saw is. This saw comes with a straight blade. They fall in the category or less TPI blades in most of the cases. The TPI of these blades are normally 6-8 or in some blades, the TPI is 4-6. So they can be said as rough blades. You can use these straight blade saws for cutting thicker lumbers.
Curved blade saws
These blades are different from the straight blade saws from both in appearance and also in work. In appearance, the blade is curved. They are tough blades which can cut through lumbers of less thickness. Their disadvantage is that you cannot use them for much thicker cuts. Speaking of cuts, the cuts made by the curved blades are much nicer, unlike the straight blades.
Folding pruning saw
The folding pruning saws are everything like the regular pruning saws. The only specialty in them is that the blade and the handle of the saw are foldable. So they become less risky when they are not in use.
Using the pruning saw
Before starting your pruning work, make sure the blade of the pruning saw is clean. That means, make sure there are no old wastes stuck in between the teeth of the blades. Then hold the saw tightly with your hand. Use you’re the other hand to grab and hold the cutting branch.
Now to start your cut, make a slight groove first. The groove will help you to hold down the blade on the cutting position. Without the groove, the blade might slip out of the line. When the groove is done, keep sawing at a normal speed.
Forcing the blade is prohibited
Remember that the pruning saw blade only cuts in the pull strokes. Well, most of them cut in the pull strokes. But there are sometimes some blades cut in both push and pull strokes. If the blade cuts in both strokes then you are all right. You can apply light pressure in both strokes. But if the blade only cuts in pull strokes then you have to apply the pressure only in the pull strokes. If you apply pressure in the push strokes also then you will only be exerting yourself. And there is also the possibility of bending the blades because of unnecessary pressure in the wrong direction.
When is said about applying pressure, I only meant a very slight pressure in the cutting strokes. If you apply too much pressure then you might even break the blade or the branch you are cutting apart from bending the blade or making uneven cuts.
When you are near to the end of the cut, slow your sawing speed down. Otherwise, you might end up with an edged extension at the end of the cutting lumber. But this happens when during pruning works. If you have any remaining part then simply just cut it with a slight stroke with the blade of your saw. You will get a fine finishing.
If you find the cuts you are making with the pruning saw is not so smooth like the cut of a miter saw or a table saw, do not panic! The pruning saw is made for pruning tree lumbers. Not cutting smooth finishing.
