Fiskars 7.9-12 Foot ExtendableTree Pruning Stik Pruner (92406935K). I purchased some parts and repaired it for much less than sending it in to Fiskars. Tree Pruning Stik) combined with this Remington mini-electric chain saw pole unit. Several pole trimmers have a pruning saw to handle larger branches. Fiskars sells replacement parts for all of the tool-ends of its pole trimmers and restringing the double-pulley pull rope is simple. Remove the old rope, taking particular note of how it loops over the two pulleys.
The versatile, rope-free tree pruner extends up to 12 feet to take down high branches without a ladder or make low cuts without kneeling or bending. The Pruning Stik Tree Pruner makes it easy to cut high or low with a level of control traditional pruners with exterior ropes can't match. A long, lightweight pole lets you cut high branches without the hassles and dangers of using a ladder, make low cuts without sore knees from kneeling or back strain from bending and easily reach into dense, prickly shrubs or tight spots. For the reach you need to cut your highest branches, the pole extends all the way to 12' and locks securely. The rope-free design means you can use both hands to maximize your power and accuracy, and an easy-to-grip sliding handle makes the pruning action smooth and simple. An actuating ball at the end of the pole lets you reach even farther and still prune with precision, an included 15' saw blade makes it easy to take down thicker branches, and the cutting head rotates up to 230 degrees to let you prune and saw at tough angles.
The fully hardened, precision-ground blade stays sharp, and a low-friction, rust-resistant coating makes every cut easier. I purchased this for my husband for fathers day. It was delivered very fast (excellent service). We have some vines in our yard that are growing out of control and my husband loves this product. I call it his 'toy'. He is always cutting and pruning something in the yard. It works exactly as stated and came ready to cut.
I also helped in the yard by cutting back some unwanted trees. It is easy to operate and I feel safe using it since I do not have to go close to the little trees to prune them. Therefore, I do not have to worry about snakes, or what ever is hiding under the small trees (smile).
I also love this product. I highly recommend it for anyone who loves to work in the yard.
They are flimsy. You've got to be real careful with them. But, you can make them last. I've managed to nurse one along for a few years with some minor repairs and TLC. However, for making those long distance 'by-the-book' clean, aligned, proper pruning cuts it's the bomb.
And yes, use them while climbing. They are great for reaching to tips and tops that are way too weak to climb to. They are light.
Reaching out horizontally 12 feet is no problem. Fiona's right, the saw that came with mine had to be a Fiskar joke.:roll. Gerber warrants to the consumer that this product will be free of defects, in material and workmanship for as long as you own the product. This warranty does not cover damage due to rust, accident, loss, improper use, abuse, negligence, or modification of or to any part of the product.
Normal wear and tear is not covered under the warranty. If the product failed while being used as it was intended to be used, we will service under the warranty. At Gerber's option, defective product will be repaired, replaced, or substituted with a product of equal value. If you feel that you are in a warranty situation, please complete the form below and a representative will contact you within 2 business days (but almost always much less!). Devils advocate: They must be make like crap if you have had 8 in the past few years.
I don't think that's necessarily the case. For what they are, they are AMAZING. I believe they did not plan for day-to-day tree workers to use them. When you cut with the angled head, making proper cuts is a snap.
Not only that, the way it works (pulling the sleeve/collar rather than a rope) is just WAY more ergonomic. Regular pole pruners are basically 1 handed. You ican i use your other hand to help, but sometimes you have to really reef on the rope and you have to hold the pole with one hand and pull the rope with the other. This tool is two hands all the time.
But they were thinking that it would get used once a month for a few minutes then put back in the garage. So if it's only $80/each and lets say I go through 3/year. That's $250 that at the end of the year, I'm not really going to notice. But to make a perfect cut almost every time.priceless.The pruner and the saw both cut well? The pruner cuts VERY well.
I'm constantly surprised at what it can cut. It has limits (like any tool) and you'll learn what they are as you use them. It looks super cheesy. I've never used it once. I have 3 of them sitting on a shelf if anyone wants it! It might cut well- I've just never tried.
It sorta screws on to the shaft with built in c-clamps. I buy it purely for the pruner.
What broke on yours? For me it is either the webbing on the inside or the little black cord that actually pulls the cutter head.
For whatever reason I decided last week to disassemble one and try to fix it. It took HOURS to understand how it all works- but now that I do, I know I can do field repairs as needed! I replaced the black cord (that's what broke on the last one) with 2.2mm zing-it. I'm interested to see if It outlasts the black cord. I think I've said this before, but I'm just completely blown away by how the internal mechanism works. Whoever figured this all out deserves an award. The angled head is the bee's knees for getting those correct cuts, light enough to climb with or send up and down as needed.
Agreed.100% love nick. Little black cord that pulls the cutting head' doesn't yours have a short section of what looks like bicycle chain to pull the cutter.coming out of the top of the stick to the lever.? The sliding handle, the flat webbing, MUCH easier to use than a conventional rope pole pruner.and easier to wiggle it in between branches for a good cut. Used mine yesterday pruning fruit trees, super easy to get to the tips of some overgrown peaches, hardly any need for a ladder. Unfortunately they are $188AUD here, so I have to take good care of it! Little black cord that pulls the cutting head' doesn't yours have a short section of what looks like bicycle chain to pull the cutter.coming out of the top of the stick to the lever.?
Yes, but if you look close, inside the cutter head there is a black string, maybe 1/8' diameter that is mostly responsible for the pivoting of the cutter head. You can see part of it in the pic. If you take the cutter head apart, you realize it's all about the string. The string is the connection between the chain and the webbing. Ive had a couple nick, and when they broke (always the black string) I simply brought it to home slepot and they said go grab another one.
No paper work, no hassles, home slepot honored the lifetime gurantee! I tried to replace the black string with zing it, only its held in place with a stopper knot. That eventually pulled through, and after the hours it took to understand and fix it the first time, I said screw it and brought it in to be swapped out. Home slepot has replaced every fiskar tool that I have ever bought and broken. Oh, I play that game. I fully believe that even though I use these things regularly, they should not be breaking as often as they do.
Around here home depot wont take it back after 90 days, but they rarely last that long. So the one I just posted a pic of.it wasn't even 1 month old!
And we don't have the crew working every day, so really it only had 8-10 days of actual use. That got swapped out. I'm probably up to 15 or so that we've gone through in the last year. That's just about 1 or so per month and $80 each for our favorite cutting tool? Money well spent, if you ask me. I'm just waiting for a high strength pro version made of carbon fiber.and it syncs with my iPhone.
Today I came home to this crazy long box sitting on the doorstep. I opened it up and found 3 Fiskars pole pruners inside! A few weeks ago I was asked by Organic Gardening Magazine to do a 15 minute pruning demo/class for one of their sponsors.Fiskars! They offered to pay me for my time. I asked for a couple of pruning stiks instead and they obliged. Well enough time had gone by where I thought they either forgot about me or bamboozled me.but last week I got an email from the lady that set it up and today the goods arrived! Now let's see how long they last.
Why not just buy a Marvin Nick? Then itll never ever break and you can cut big ol branches of with em, throw them from the top of trees(Ive gotta a bit of a temper when its 105 out, sorry, didnt say they were perfect.lol), whatever, them things are tuff with a capital T. Every other pruner I have ever used has not even come close to the durability and utility of the Marvins. IIRC there is a competitors brand that is essentially the same as the marvins but the name escapes me right now.
They are not fancy, they have no gimmicks, they just work, forever, we have a couple that are approaching twenty years of service with hardly a hickup. Never even replaced the rope.
IIRC we have had to sharpen them a couple of times, I think one of them needed a new pulley at one point, again not perfect, but twenty years, you do the math on how many Fiskars I would have had to have bought probably in the hundreds. As for extension, its not easy but Ive used a 24 foot Marvin before, all of four extensions, 6 ft each, TONS of flex but got the branch off.
Marvins just keep cutting. We use the dielectric poles becasue I clear ROW(all tool that may encroach on our Limits of Approach must be non conductive, LOA is how close we can get to the wires when working, I think its called something different stateside, Im in Canada) have to be tested for non conductivity once a year) so, in all honesty, I think they are a bit tougher than the regualr as they are solid core. The fiskars wouldnt survive a day in the ROW enviroment, first time it was stepped on it be broke in half, rendered useless.
You can drive over Marvins, I have done it, the cutting mechanism is built like it should be, tough, and SIMPLE, should anything ever happen, chances are I can repair it in the field, they are just very simple time proven work horses. Not trying to hate on your thread Nick, you are a super hekpful guy, theres just no reason for me to want to do that, but?? Have you ever tried a Marvin, with the bull pruner head, if not you really should try too, youll only have to ever buy one of them, unless of course you like it so much you just gotta have more of em. Peace, and be safe. Why not just buy a Marvin Nick? Do they make one with a pivoting cutter head and that DOESN'T have a rope hanging off it?
This thing is just EASIER to use. There's no bones about it. And it's the perfect size for the work we do. Every time I used 'normal' pole pruners (which is what every other tree service I've ever worked for carried.and there have been about 7 of them). I hated them. They were too heavy and too clumsy for me.
I never felt like I could make a half decent cut with them. And the whole business of having to hold the pole with one hand and the rope with the other- it just seemed awkward and not thought out. So though the pruning stik is not made robustly enough to supremely rock my world, I doubt I'll ever switch to what everyone else is using. I'll happily replace these things even if I gotta buy a new one every month. And no offense taken.
I know they are not for everyone. I'm just super picky! Ok, if you guys are muscling around huge big ass trees then go for your marvin whatevers. But for precision pruning out on tips NOT whacking off great lumps of wood, the Fiskars is invaluable. Nick might have broken nine of them, I'm still going on mine five years in with minor adjustments. Tip pruning and thinning elms, poinciana, avocado, golden shower, callophylum.30-50'.fantastic tool.
My marvin makes precision cuts on small wood. In fact it doesn't really make huge cuts on huge big ass trees. Its just built to handle the wear and tear of a life of tree work. Do they make one with a pivoting cutter head and that DOESN'T have a rope hanging off it? This thing is just EASIER to use. There's no bones about it.
And it's the perfect size for the work we do. Every time I used 'normal' pole pruners (which is what every other tree service I've ever worked for carried.and there have been about 7 of them). I hated them. They were too heavy and too clumsy for me.
I never felt like I could make a half decent cut with them. And the whole business of having to hold the pole with one hand and the rope with the other- it just seemed awkward and not thought out.
So though the pruning stik is not made robustly enough to supremely rock my world, I doubt I'll ever switch to what everyone else is using. I'll happily replace these things even if I gotta buy a new one every month. And no offense taken. I know they are not for everyone. I'm just super picky! Love nick You seem to have found a tool that works for you. Cant really argue that if your happy with it.
And the Marvins are bloody heavy and not really suited for the finer pruning so on those points I gotta agree with you. Im whacking branches off trees in a ROW, 95% of the time, so the odd ugly cut is not the end of the world, and we accept that for the enviroment we work in. Now if we are in someone front yard, we obviously use a different skillset and prune appropriatley. Out on the ROW the Marvins are king. Stay safe all. So you're saying that you'll go ahead and make the less than perfect cut from where you are, or you'll move to another part of the tree to get the right angle? I know you're not saying your cuts are perfect no matter where you are in the tree all the time!
Either way, you're spending money by spending more time in the tree. I'm spending more at home depot. I think it all comes out in the wash. As long as Home Depot keeps refunding me my money when they break prematurely, you won't hear me complaining! I work a prune with strategy. If I cant get it at the angle I want from where Im at, I revisit the cut from my next position. Hey, if the tool works for you, that's money in the bank.
I have to be cautious about the durability of what I buy. Other guys use the stuff. As much as I like to think they treat my gear as well, as I do, its simply never the case. Tools get moved from truck to truck, around the job, in and out of the garage, and up and down the tree. I simply have no choice but to make sure I buy stuff that is pro grade. Now, rewind a bunch of years to when I was a one man band, Id buy it to try, knowing that I could ensure it got handled gently. Im talking about changing the orientation of the blade to the collar by moving the branch rather than moving the pruner.
If i need to make a cut say, and the stem is facing out and away from my position, i hook the intended stem as close to the collar as i can and then pull the whole branch around till the stem is 90 deg to the blade. If the stem is too big to bend then it is usually big enough to get with a handsaw or from my next work position. On thinning jobs i almost never even use a pole pruner nowadays.
Most of our jobs are monterey cypress or coast live oak. Both of which are very easy to get around in (esp with the HH!). Plus i have a 6'6' arm span and a 16' handsaw;). Truth be told, I don't really use a pole pruner much. More polesaw use then anything. I get some ornamental prunings here and there, but more of my pruning is trees larger then what can be done from the ground.
I wish I could sell more ornamental work. Hour for hour, pound for pound, the profit is better for me. I have tried and tried to sell it, and now and again I do. But around here, people prefer their ornamental trees be handled with a set of hedge trimmers, and I don't do that.
They want ornamentals groomed into a perfectly round ball. For what it's worth, I think Fiskars has cheapened the design to cut costs. I've noticed some if the levers for the adjusters are flimsier.
And in the past few months we've noticed a marked reduction in how long they are lasting on the jobsite. Right now it's no skin off my back. I am usually going to Home Depot once a month for this or that anyway- so I just take the broken pruners with me as keep swapping them out.
As long as they keep honoring the 90 day return policy, I don't care how long they last. I love these things. You got a point! I only remember once or twice ever sharpening them! Recent failures include: 1- Blade snapped - this happens in like 10% of our failures. It's pretty rare 2- Internal mechanisms of pivoting head failing- not the pivoting part- but the pulley stuff on the inside that transfers your pulling power into a cutting motion.
This is the most common failure for us. It happens randomly it seems. Id say 70-90% of our failures are from this. 3- Chain link failure- this happens rarely. It's a short piece of chain up by the cutter head. Maybe 5-10-% of failures are from this.
4- Fiberglass splitting lengthwise- only had this happen once to a brand new pole. And I know why it happened. There is a plastic screw on ferrule where the fiberglass and aluminum meet in the middle. Those bolts were not tightened properly at the factory so the ferrule slipped up and the end of the fiberglass got flexed with the weight.
5- general disfunction: nothing broke, but things aren't working any more. Like the spring isn't strong enough to open the blade, the webbing constantly gets jammed under the lock lever- stuff like that. If I can't figure out how to fix it in ten minutes, I take it back to Home Depot. Again- this one is rare. Usually things just straight up break. I'd never recommend this for general tree guy use, but there is nothing else on the market that is as versatile AND light.
And a pivoting head? Who else has that? That corona one is too short. Less than 6'. The Fiskars extends to 12' Yesterday I got 2 more of the Fiskars- free exchanges from Home Depot.
I've been noticing changes in the design. Things are getting flimsier and I'm noticing that they aren't lasting as long. I'm gonna etch the date into these two.
They should last a lot longer. I just bought a 10' adjustable ARS one. I've had a 6' one for like 4 yrs. Never sharpened it. Works like a champ.
I ordered this one: the 6-10 footer with pivoting head. $135 (vs $80 for the fiskars) but if it lasts more than 2 months it'll be well worth it. It gets here next week.but there is nothing else on the market that is as versatile AND light. And a pivoting head?
Who else has that? I ordered this one: the 6-10 footer with pivoting head.
$135 (vs $80 for the fiskars) but if it lasts more than 2 months it'll be well worth it. I havent used the fiskars but I have that 6-10' ARS. Its a fantastic tool. Its really ingenuitive and for light detail work its unmatched. HOWEVER you still need a standard pruner, the ARS is. Just brought 2 more to Home Depot for swapping. Same prob on both of them- jammed in a mostly-shut fashion like this: 49325 Both were put into service on 6/26.
Didn't get 2 months out of 2 of them and we haven't been using them that much lately- doing a few removals and lots of handsaw works, soooo. Love nick I saw your post and thought: 'When's that gonna happen to me?' So, it happened today and I thought: 'Dayum, Nick.:lol:' Anyway. When I got home, I took it apart.
Apparently if the nut in the orange locking lever gets too loose the cord can jam under internal drum. Rewound the cord.
Back together. Good to go.:) I HOPE.:. Devils advocate: They must be make like crap if you have had 8 in the past few years. Marvins are easy to replace parts when needed and they literally last for decades. Does the different angle help you guys make difficult cuts easier? Do you guys use them while climbing? They must be light then.
You got that right. Complete garbage. And the pruning hook needs to be set just right, or it leaves a small stub, or worse, tears. This pruner is perfect for the homeowner who's only going to use it once a year and doesn't mind the crappy scarring left on the callus roll. My buddy had gone thru three within a few years before I kicked him down my old Marvin fiberglass pole pruners. Spend a few dollars more the first time, to avoid spending less -multiple times. Just to catch you up to speed, I do not buy this whole printer to avoid the expense of getting a proper pruner.
In fact I'm sure I spend more per year in pole pruners then many of you guys combined! Ha ha I prefer this tool because there is no tool on the market that allows you to adjust the cutting head to make a perfect cut on every cut. That means a lot to me and my clients. There is no way around this.
And as soon as someone comes out with a better tool for the job, I really do not care the price, I will purchase that tool. But until that day, I'll tolerate the Stik love nick.
I did two fruit trees at all sorta of crazy angles (leaving a couple bad cuts out of 100, maybe, and they're my trees). I have another to do tomorrow at home, and try it on some plum (dense) suckers. Didn't leave the ground. The cherry was at max extension. I did make a point to sharpen the blade before use today. Well worth it.
I don't know if the blade was banging on other tools in the box or what. I think about getting a second for fruit trees.
So much less ladder work!!! This will be true on all of our repeat fruit tree customers (Feb/ March work).