Gardening knives?

L

Longden

Joined
Jun 22, 1999
Messages
579
I'm an armchair gardener and I'm looking at doing more than my usual amount of pruning and cutting this month. I'm looking for a knife that'd make it easier to trim suckers from some trees than using the pruning shears I have (takes forever).

The Spyderco Harpy would be nice for this, but a bit pricy for bushwacking.

Anyone know of other readily available hawkbills available at a price to make me get off my armchair?

Missed the BF Talons (darn).

Any better tool to suggest? Pruning saws tend to be too coarse to handle the small but flexible and tough suckers. Hedge shears don't get close enough to the base.
Do they make gardening knives just for this purpose?

Thanks.
 
I use a pruning saw for the suckers and of the number of saws, pruning or otherwise that I've tried, I like the Corona 'Razor Saw' the best so far. It's a curved saw that like most uses a pull stroke, and has sharp, hardened teeth that are formed with three grinds. The blade is Japanese. I have one on a pole saw and also have one on a 14in hickory handle that I made. The teeth are similar to a small Fiskars pruning saw that I picked up yesterday. It has a six inch blade that slides into the handle, the parts are from Finland, it weighs maybe a couple of ounces and will make a handy 'pocket pruner' as well as backpacking saw. The Fiskars saw was less than $10 at Sears. For a finer saw check out some of the pull saws at well stocked hardware stores, ones designed for woodworking, as you can get as fine of a tooth as you wish.
 
longden, try and find a Victorinox Farmer. This model has a red metal handle and the heavier duty blades of the Soldier but with the addition of a saw blade. Great knife, great saw and great value. You should be able to find one for about $25.

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who dares, wins


 
Thanks all. I'll have a look at the suggestions this weekend...except I know I haven't seen a Seahawk in my local knifeshop (might be too expensive anyway, but would definitely be a treat to use).

I remember another member recounting something about sawing away a slew of small branches using a Delica/Endura during an auto emergency... makes me wonder if a serrated knife has any advantages over a saw in terms of cutting ability, at least for certain types and sizes of brush.
 
My gardening knife is Vaquero Grande with the serrations ground off and a convex cutting edge.

The handle is long enough to keep my hand from getting scratched when pruning plants with thorns. The recurve blade works very well for pruning.
 
The Bill Hook and the Vaquero Grande are both interesting ideas. If nothing else, their mere appearance should stunt the growth of any potential pruning candidates
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Both are still pricey for me. I've heard in other posts about the VQ being had for $30, but have yet to see one actually being sold at that price. Even Discount Knives sells them for $70.

Being as I live in Cold Steel's turf, it'd be convenient to pick one up from them, but I think at that price I'll have to stick to using a cheap folding Stanley saw I found in my tool chest (no recurve darn it).

Also found a small cheap hawkbill style fixed blade cutter at a garden shop that looks like it may have been designed for harvesting grapes. Has only about a 2" blade in a semi-circle with serrations... not Spyder-sharp, but only $7 and should be sufficient for young suckers growing at the tree trunks. Leaves more money for better knives later
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