Those of you that follow this NG closely may know I grow apples for a
living...

I use the "Limb Lopper" brand pruner to prune my orchard. This is the
Cadillac of pruners. Like all too many quality made in USA products, it has
been judged too expensive and now you can only get inferior products made
off shore. The pruner is out of production and parts will soon not be
available.

The shear and hook part of the pruner are wear items that must be
re-sharpened every few hundred trees. After 10,000 or so trees you need to
replace them. My son is writing up a CNC program to machine the parts after
scanning in a coordinate measuring machine.

These two parts are made out of a tool steel with incredible properties. The
material is as resistant to being bent as the best quality wrenches. I have
never broke or bent a hook and shear. Yet, the steel is soft enough to be
sharpened with a file.

I need to determine exactly what this material is and its likely heat
treatment. I want to get this exactly right, not just guess. How would I go
about finding out what material to use?

Karl

Karl Townsend wrote:

snip

.. How would I go
about finding out what material to use?

Karl


People with a lot of experience can grind a sample of the metal and
tell you the alloy family by viewing the sparks. The resiliency tells
me it may be a high vanadium steel such as the M series used to make
good drill bits. Perhaps a metallurgist could perform a tensile test
and a Rockwell hardness test and cross reference the results against a
catalogue of steels with the same tensile strength at that hardness.

Karl Townsend wrote:
Those of you that follow this NG closely may know I grow apples for a
living...

I use the "Limb Lopper" brand pruner to prune my orchard. This is the
Cadillac of pruners.

I thought Felco was the Cadillac of pruners? Least wise they're priced
like a Cadillac.

http://www.felcostore.com/index.jsp



These two parts are made out of a tool steel with incredible properties. The
material is as resistant to being bent as the best quality wrenches. I have
never broke or bent a hook and shear. Yet, the steel is soft enough to be
sharpened with a file.

My educated guess would be 4140.


Karl





--
Regards,
Steve Saling
aka The Garlic Dude ©
Gilroy, CA
The Garlic Capital of The World
http://www.pulsareng.com/

"Karl Townsend" remove .NOT wrote:

I need to determine exactly what this material is and its likely heat
treatment. I want to get this exactly right, not just guess. How would I go
about finding out what material to use?

Let it analize. It costs a bit. Here in Germany, you would have to pay
100 ... 150 EUR (150..200 US$). They do spectroscope the material and
name you the alloys that do have the same mixture. A hardness-test will
reveal the heat-treatment.


Nick
--
Motor Modelle // Engine Models
http://www.motor-manufaktur.de
DIY-DRO // Eigenbau-Digitalanzeige
http://www.yadro.de

Garlicdude said:
"My educated guess would be 4140".

I'm inclined to go along with you, Karl, especially if its tempered to
around Rc 50 or so.

A tool & die shop I had as a client made envelope dies from 4140 and
tempered as I stated. I was taken aback at this use of this steel,
but, the cutting edge lasted long enough for their customers to be
happy.

BTW: Envelope and label dies are used to stamp/cut labels and small
envelopes from a thick stack of paper. The paper is placed on a wooden
board into a press, the die in the shape of a cookie-cutter is placed
on top of the paper stack, and the press operated. Voila, a stack of
envelopes or labels result. Crude but effective. For large labels or
envelopes the die is bent-up from 1/2" x 3" proprietary steel bars,
heated and welded into a closed form. Think of steel rule dies, only
MUCH more substantial.

I think this steel would work well in the tree-trimming business. Best
of all: it is cheap and the heat treatment is a cinch. The heating
ought to be done in a furnace, though, to ensure uniform properties
throughout.

Trust this helps.

Wolfgang

Karl Townsend wrote:
Those of you that follow this NG closely may know I grow apples for a
living...

I use the "Limb Lopper" brand pruner to prune my orchard. This is the
Cadillac of pruners. Like all too many quality made in USA products, it has
been judged too expensive and now you can only get inferior products made
off shore. The pruner is out of production and parts will soon not be
available.

The shear and hook part of the pruner are wear items that must be
re-sharpened every few hundred trees. After 10,000 or so trees you need to
replace them. My son is writing up a CNC program to machine the parts after
scanning in a coordinate measuring machine.

These two parts are made out of a tool steel with incredible properties. The
material is as resistant to being bent as the best quality wrenches. I have
never broke or bent a hook and shear. Yet, the steel is soft enough to be
sharpened with a file.

I need to determine exactly what this material is and its likely heat
treatment. I want to get this exactly right, not just guess. How would I go
about finding out what material to use?

Karl

D2 may be a viable option. You can mill it, and without saying too
much, a previous employer used custom-milled knives made from D2 to
slice sheet steel parts. I didn't make very many knives, but they sure
made a lot of parts with the knives I did make. HTH.

Later,

Charlie

Good choice, but H-13 may be a bit better.
I know it is more stable in heat treat.



"Dave Lyon" wrote in message
news:7PXOf.804575$x96.482733@attbi_s72...


My educated guess would be 4140.


The pruners we used to use in our orchard didn't rust.

Run a rockwell test on it and match that using 4140.

Karl Townsend wrote:

Those of you that follow this NG closely may know I grow apples for a
living...

I use the "Limb Lopper" brand pruner to prune my orchard. This is the
Cadillac of pruners. Like all too many quality made in USA products, it has
been judged too expensive and now you can only get inferior products made
off shore. The pruner is out of production and parts will soon not be
available.

The shear and hook part of the pruner are wear items that must be
re-sharpened every few hundred trees. After 10,000 or so trees you need to
replace them. My son is writing up a CNC program to machine the parts after
scanning in a coordinate measuring machine.

These two parts are made out of a tool steel with incredible properties. The
material is as resistant to being bent as the best quality wrenches. I have
never broke or bent a hook and shear. Yet, the steel is soft enough to be
sharpened with a file.

I need to determine exactly what this material is and its likely heat
treatment. I want to get this exactly right, not just guess. How would I go
about finding out what material to use?

Karl

Karl Townsend wrote:

Those of you that follow this NG closely may know I grow apples for a
living...

I use the "Limb Lopper" brand pruner to prune my orchard. This is the
Cadillac of pruners. Like all too many quality made in USA products, it has
been judged too expensive and now you can only get inferior products made
off shore. The pruner is out of production and parts will soon not be
available.

The shear and hook part of the pruner are wear items that must be
re-sharpened every few hundred trees. After 10,000 or so trees you need to
replace them. My son is writing up a CNC program to machine the parts after
scanning in a coordinate measuring machine.

These two parts are made out of a tool steel with incredible properties. The
material is as resistant to being bent as the best quality wrenches. I have
never broke or bent a hook and shear. Yet, the steel is soft enough to be
sharpened with a file.

I need to determine exactly what this material is and its likely heat
treatment. I want to get this exactly right, not just guess. How would I go
about finding out what material to use?

Karl





A friend with a wire edm shop had a job making pruner blades out of
solid carbide.
It was for a pneumatic industrial pruner, I assume this is the same
application.

Fred

"Karl Townsend" remove .NOT wrote
Snip
I need to determine exactly what this material is and its likely heat
treatment. I want to get this exactly right, not just guess. How would I
go
about finding out what material to use?

Karl

The pruner may be out of production but the factory may still be open with
other products in the works. Drop a dime.
Tom

"Karl Townsend" remove .NOT wrote in
message nk.net...
Those of you that follow this NG closely may know I grow apples for a
living...
SNip

Is there a patent # on the pruner? Try the USPO web site.
Tom

I thought Felco was the Cadillac of pruners? Least wise they're priced
like a Cadillac.

http://www.felcostore.com/index.jsp

The hook and shear on the felco air pruner are about 1/2 the size of the
ones on the Limb Lopper. Won't go around as big a branch. The felco air
cylinder is about 2" diameter vs. 3" for the limb lopper. Which one has more
power? The felco air cylinder is up at the cutting head making it heavy on
the end (wears you out pruning 40 hours a week), the limb lopper has the
cylinder down at your hands.

In short, if you put the Limb Lopper shear on any branch under 1 1/2" and
pull the trigger, its gone. And they don't break down, everything is well
engineered.

Of course the Felco lists at $500. When you could still get a Limb Lopper,
they were $1500.

To all the great suggestions. I'll make my prototypes out of 4140, D2, and
H13. If none of these meet my needs, I'll start looking for a place to
analyze the metal.

Karl

Karl Townsend wrote:
I thought Felco was the Cadillac of pruners? Least wise they're priced
like a Cadillac.

http://www.felcostore.com/index.jsp

The hook and shear on the felco air pruner are about 1/2 the size of the
ones on the Limb Lopper. Won't go around as big a branch. The felco air
cylinder is about 2" diameter vs. 3" for the limb lopper. Which one has more
power? The felco air cylinder is up at the cutting head making it heavy on
the end (wears you out pruning 40 hours a week), the limb lopper has the
cylinder down at your hands.

In short, if you put the Limb Lopper shear on any branch under 1 1/2" and
pull the trigger, its gone. And they don't break down, everything is well
engineered.

Of course the Felco lists at $500. When you could still get a Limb Lopper,
they were $1500.

To all the great suggestions. I'll make my prototypes out of 4140, D2, and
H13. If none of these meet my needs, I'll start looking for a place to
analyze the metal.

Karl



Karl, I have a small home orchard. Four citrus, two apple trees, half a
dozen stone fruit trees. I also have about 20 English walnuts and 50
almond trees. On the Felco thing I was pulling your leg. All I've ever
used is their hand pruner, and thought it expensive at close to $50,
compared to the usual home improvement center stuff.

I'd like to add a Fuji, my new favorite apple, to my orchard.

Have fun with that D2.

--
Regards,
Steve Saling
aka The Garlic Dude ©
Gilroy, CA
The Garlic Capital of The World
http://www.pulsareng.com/

"John Miller" wrote in message
.net...
If the company is still in existence, why not give then a call and ask for
the specs of the blade material they used. It'll probably take some
perseverence to get to the right department. Start with tech service or
engineering.

I'd agree with that, but are you sure it is a tool steel? Does it rust? If
it is soft enough to sharpen with a file I would wonder if it is just a
carbon steel, fairly heavily tempered. I'd agree with some of the other
posters though. Try and match the Rockwell hardness (small engineering
workshop or technical college). There are hand-held instruments for
analysing steels which you might find at a large engineering works. The
older, low tech ones strike an arc and you measure the spectrum (some skill
needed!) but I saw one a couple of years back which did an X ray analysis
and confirmed very quickly and easily the stem and seat material of a 1 inch
valve which had failed. Very impressive, cost about $10,000 though.

"Newshound" wrote in message
...
"John Miller" wrote in message
.net...
If the company is still in existence, why not give then a call and ask
for the specs of the blade material they used. It'll probably take some
perseverence to get to the right department. Start with tech service or
engineering.

I'd agree with that, but are you sure it is a tool steel? Does it rust? If
it is soft enough to sharpen with a file I would wonder if it is just a
carbon steel, fairly heavily tempered. I'd agree with some of the other
posters though. Try and match the Rockwell hardness (small engineering
workshop or technical college). There are hand-held instruments for
analysing steels which you might find at a large engineering works. The
older, low tech ones strike an arc and you measure the spectrum (some
skill needed!) but I saw one a couple of years back which did an X ray
analysis and confirmed very quickly and easily the stem and seat material
of a 1 inch valve which had failed. Very impressive, cost about $10,000
though.

You could always put some stelite steel where it cuts, like they do for
aircraft valves.

Just part of the valve face is stellite. You can see the layer when you
regind then. Tough steel.

xman

"Karl Townsend" remove .NOT wrote in
message k.net...


I thought Felco was the Cadillac of pruners? Least wise they're priced
like a Cadillac.

http://www.felcostore.com/index.jsp

The hook and shear on the felco air pruner are about 1/2 the size of the
ones on the Limb Lopper. Won't go around as big a branch. The felco air
cylinder is about 2" diameter vs. 3" for the limb lopper. Which one has
more power? The felco air cylinder is up at the cutting head making it
heavy on the end (wears you out pruning 40 hours a week), the limb lopper
has the cylinder down at your hands.

In short, if you put the Limb Lopper shear on any branch under 1 1/2" and
pull the trigger, its gone. And they don't break down, everything is well
engineered.

Of course the Felco lists at $500. When you could still get a Limb Lopper,
they were $1500.

To all the great suggestions. I'll make my prototypes out of 4140, D2, and
H13. If none of these meet my needs, I'll start looking for a place to
analyze the metal.

Karl

Karl,
I was watching the Discovery channel just a couple of days ago. The guy in
a metal recycling business had a gun that zapped a piece of metal with a
laser beam and did a spectrographic analysis of the light emitted. They
said it would identify some 7,000 different alloys! Got a big scrap yard
around?

Gary H. Lucas

I think you are trying too hard to find the same metal. Do a Rockwell
hardness test and then pick some steel that is easy to heat treat to
the same hardness. Or maybe a steel as stressproof that is already
that hardness.

When in doubt start with O-1 Medium wear, medium toughness, medium
distorsion in heat treat, and high machinability. Normal range of
hardness C 58 to 62.

Dan


Karl Townsend wrote:

These two parts are made out of a tool steel with incredible properties. The
material is as resistant to being bent as the best quality wrenches. I have
never broke or bent a hook and shear. Yet, the steel is soft enough to be
sharpened with a file.

I need to determine exactly what this material is and its likely heat
treatment. I want to get this exactly right, not just guess. How would I go
about finding out what material to use?

Karl

"Gary H. Lucas" wrote:

"Karl Townsend" remove .NOT wrote in
message k.net...


I thought Felco was the Cadillac of pruners? Least wise they're priced
like a Cadillac.

http://www.felcostore.com/index.jsp

The hook and shear on the felco air pruner are about 1/2 the size of the
ones on the Limb Lopper. Won't go around as big a branch. The felco air
cylinder is about 2" diameter vs. 3" for the limb lopper. Which one has
more power? The felco air cylinder is up at the cutting head making it
heavy on the end (wears you out pruning 40 hours a week), the limb lopper
has the cylinder down at your hands.

In short, if you put the Limb Lopper shear on any branch under 1 1/2" and
pull the trigger, its gone. And they don't break down, everything is well
engineered.

Of course the Felco lists at $500. When you could still get a Limb Lopper,
they were $1500.

To all the great suggestions. I'll make my prototypes out of 4140, D2, and
H13. If none of these meet my needs, I'll start looking for a place to
analyze the metal.

Karl

Karl,
I was watching the Discovery channel just a couple of days ago. The guy in
a metal recycling business had a gun that zapped a piece of metal with a
laser beam and did a spectrographic analysis of the light emitted. They
said it would identify some 7,000 different alloys! Got a big scrap yard
around?

Gary H. Lucas



Yup, Naparano scrap yard in Newark NJ has one of these.Also, most
foundries have the ability to run tests on the metals they pour using a
spetroscopic instrument.

John

"John" wrote in message
...
"Gary H. Lucas" wrote:

"Karl Townsend" remove .NOT wrote in
message k.net...


I thought Felco was the Cadillac of pruners? Least wise they're
priced
like a Cadillac.

http://www.felcostore.com/index.jsp

The hook and shear on the felco air pruner are about 1/2 the size of
the
ones on the Limb Lopper. Won't go around as big a branch. The felco
air
cylinder is about 2" diameter vs. 3" for the limb lopper. Which one
has
more power? The felco air cylinder is up at the cutting head making it
heavy on the end (wears you out pruning 40 hours a week), the limb
lopper
has the cylinder down at your hands.

In short, if you put the Limb Lopper shear on any branch under 1 1/2"
and
pull the trigger, its gone. And they don't break down, everything is
well
engineered.

Of course the Felco lists at $500. When you could still get a Limb
Lopper,
they were $1500.

To all the great suggestions. I'll make my prototypes out of 4140, D2,
and
H13. If none of these meet my needs, I'll start looking for a place
to
analyze the metal.

Karl

Karl,
I was watching the Discovery channel just a couple of days ago. The guy
in
a metal recycling business had a gun that zapped a piece of metal with a
laser beam and did a spectrographic analysis of the light emitted. They
said it would identify some 7,000 different alloys! Got a big scrap
yard
around?

Gary H. Lucas



Yup, Naparano scrap yard in Newark NJ has one of these.Also, most
foundries have the ability to run tests on the metals they pour using a
spetroscopic instrument.



And where were you when I had logged the ## of that "knife steel" on IRC ???

Alas, its probly too late now...

sigh

--

SVL

On 6 Mar 2006 19:39:42 -0800, " wrote:

I think you are trying too hard to find the same metal. Do a Rockwell
hardness test and then pick some steel that is easy to heat treat to
the same hardness. Or maybe a steel as stressproof that is already
that hardness.

As he's using a file to sharpen it it's probably not very hard. Nor
is the wood he' s cutting G.
Try some unhardened HSS ... can you use drill rod as your stock?
--
Cliff

I missed telling everyone a MAJOR point. Its magnetic and will rust, but
very slowly. I have some old shears that sat in a shed for years with slight
rusting. (I watch Ebay for limb lopper and buy them all)The shears in daily
use show no rusting.

Of these candidates, do any rust but slowly?

stainless 440C
H13
D2
4140 (I ruled this out - I know it rusts faster )

Karl

Karl Townsend wrote:
I missed telling everyone a MAJOR point. Its magnetic and will rust, but
very slowly. I have some old shears that sat in a shed for years with slight
rusting. (I watch Ebay for limb lopper and buy them all)The shears in daily
use show no rusting.

Of these candidates, do any rust but slowly?

stainless 440C
H13
D2
4140 (I ruled this out - I know it rusts faster )

Karl





stainless 440C
Yes, it rusts when not full hard. Is magnetic

H13
I don't know


D2
Yes, it rusts slowly


There is a 440A and 440B also. I wouldn't use any 440 for this, not
very tough, breaks easy. There is a 420 that may work. Used for plastic
extrusion dies.


D2 is abrasion resistant would would not file well, even fairly soft.
Other than that, it is a good steel for this application with an RC
around 55

Man" wrote in message
oups.com...

Karl Townsend wrote:
I missed telling everyone a MAJOR point. Its magnetic and will rust, but
very slowly. I have some old shears that sat in a shed for years with
slight
rusting. (I watch Ebay for limb lopper and buy them all)The shears in
daily
use show no rusting.

Of these candidates, do any rust but slowly?

stainless 440C
H13
D2
4140 (I ruled this out - I know it rusts faster )

Karl





stainless 440C
Yes, it rusts when not full hard. Is magnetic

H13
I don't know


D2
Yes, it rusts slowly


There is a 440A and 440B also. I wouldn't use any 440 for this, not
very tough, breaks easy. There is a 420 that may work. Used for plastic
extrusion dies.


D2 is abrasion resistant would would not file well, even fairly soft.
Other than that, it is a good steel for this application with an RC
around 55


Don't forget 455 stainless, it come up to about 55 Rc

Beege

Karl Townsend wrote:
I missed telling everyone a MAJOR point. Its magnetic and will rust, but
very slowly. I have some old shears that sat in a shed for years with slight
rusting. (I watch Ebay for limb lopper and buy them all)The shears in daily
use show no rusting.

Of these candidates, do any rust but slowly?

stainless 440C
H13
D2
4140 (I ruled this out - I know it rusts faster )

Karl




Karl, Steels in general rust less when heat treated, and the higher they
are to their maximum hardness the less they rust.

I still think 4140 is the best choice for your job. 440 SST, H13, and
D2 if hardened to anywhere near their max will be difficult to sharpen
with a file as you stated in your original post. I doubt that the
original manufacture used something as "exotic" as the above mentioned
steels.

Also most of the loper blades that I have seen looked to be forged,
which gives them very different properties than a blade made from bar stock.

--
Regards,
Steve Saling
aka The Garlic Dude ©
Gilroy, CA
The Garlic Capital of The World
http://www.pulsareng.com/

Garlicdude wrote:



Also most of the loper blades that I have seen looked to be forged,
which gives them very different properties than a blade made from bar stock.




Good point. A forged blade or wrench will perform unlike anything
machined from stock due to the grain structure from the material flow.

With that said, some shapes (like a lawn mower blade) do not require
forging to obtain the advantages of grain direction because they can be
cut and formed so the grain of the steel flows along the length of the
part. The rolling process for the raw material does the same thing as
forging (for that shape). The cutting edge of the shear may be the same
way, so long as you respect the grain direction of the material you
start with.


Years ago while I was in college, I worked as a hack machinist for a
manufacturing company in Raleigh. A linkage in a hydraulic assembly in
a tube bender failed due to metal fatigue. I replaced it with a piece
of unhardened tool steel. O1 probably. It was a very pretty piece and I
was so proud to make this pretty part and get production going on that
tube bender again. I expected it to be way stronger than the cold
rolled steel part it replaced.

I was very surprised when it failed in less than one shift. I had the
grain directing off by 90 deg. And tool steel is not very tough. I made
another shaft out of some ugly old hot rolled steel and to my knowledge
it is working to this day.

Grain direction man.

....
I was very surprised when it failed in less than one shift. I had the
grain directing off by 90 deg. And tool steel is not very tough. I made
another shaft out of some ugly old hot rolled steel and to my knowledge
it is working to this day.

Grain direction man.

I learn something everyday on this NG. I knew wood had grain, didn't know
that about steel. The original is forged, can't duplicate that. The outline
shape will be laser cut out of bar stock, I'll be sure and have the length
of the part line up for maximum strength. My son is having this done as a
government job where he works. He asked me to provide the stock. I'll try
three of the best candidates for a trial.

Thanks for all the help.

Karl

On 7 Mar 2006 06:56:35 -0800, "Polymer Man" wrote:

I made
another shaft out of some ugly old hot rolled steel and to my knowledge
it is working to this day.

Oddly, hot rolled is often a tad stronger than cold rolled.
--
Cliff

"Karl Townsend" remove .NOT
wrote in message
nk.net...
Those of you that follow this NG closely may know I grow apples
for a
living...




I worked quiet a while at a place that made rotary
cutting and creasing machines. They used 4140ht for
the knives. Heat treated and ground. At one time we made some
prototypes from material called "Ferrotic". It was new
technology at the time. The knives worked great but
the company did a great deal of business on
replacement parts so they priced them where no one
would buy them and then discontinued production due
to low demand.
I believe it is a pressed powdered carbide and
something else product.
You had to heat treat the stuff wrapped in foil
packed in charcoal. It was interesting.
this is the stuff:

http://www.kuksung.co.kr/

"Kathy" wrote in message
...

"Karl Townsend" remove .NOT
wrote in message
nk.net...
Those of you that follow this NG closely may know I grow
apples
for a
living...




I worked quiet a while at a place that made rotary
cutting and creasing machines. They used 4140ht for
the knives. Heat treated and ground. At one time we made some
prototypes from material called "Ferrotic". It was new
technology at the time. The knives worked great but
the company did a great deal of business on
replacement parts so they priced them where no one
would buy them and then discontinued production due
to low demand.
I believe it is a pressed powdered carbide and
something else product.
You had to heat treat the stuff wrapped in foil
packed in charcoal. It was interesting.
this is the stuff:

http://www.kuksung.co.kr/




ye, I meant quite

Perhaps you should consider sending your orchards overseas instead of
dealing with all the hassle of making new blades

--
J Miller
"Karl Townsend" remove .NOT wrote in
message nk.net...
Those of you that follow this NG closely may know I grow apples for a
living...

I use the "Limb Lopper" brand pruner to prune my orchard. This is the
Cadillac of pruners. Like all too many quality made in USA products, it
has been judged too expensive and now you can only get inferior products
made off shore. The pruner is out of production and parts will soon not be
available.

The shear and hook part of the pruner are wear items that must be
re-sharpened every few hundred trees. After 10,000 or so trees you need to
replace them. My son is writing up a CNC program to machine the parts
after scanning in a coordinate measuring machine.

These two parts are made out of a tool steel with incredible properties.
The material is as resistant to being bent as the best quality wrenches. I
have never broke or bent a hook and shear. Yet, the steel is soft enough
to be sharpened with a file.

I need to determine exactly what this material is and its likely heat
treatment. I want to get this exactly right, not just guess. How would I
go about finding out what material to use?

Karl

Im thinking S7. Do a google and you will see it would work perfect.

On Tue, 7 Mar 2006 20:56:36 -0800, "Aluckyguess" wrote:

Im thinking S7. Do a google and you will see it would work perfect.

Just as a thought ask about tough knife alloys in one
of the knifemaking newsgroups. Or search their archives.
You might also want to consider something like an
armor steel ... pretty tough I gather.
Consider your current failure modes & what causes
you more work and try to fix on those.
I sort of doubt that they used anything fancy or expensive
in the first place, perhpas just stock HRS or CRS.

Also consider making & selling the parts G.
--
Cliff

On Mon, 06 Mar 2006 17:53:55 GMT, "Karl Townsend"
remove .NOT wrote:

snip
To all the great suggestions. I'll make my prototypes out of 4140, D2, and
H13. If none of these meet my needs, I'll start looking for a place to
analyze the metal.

Hi Karl,

If you come up with a version suitable for manual use with
handles I would be interested in a set. Just the shear and
hook, I can make up handles of some sort.

A good heavy duty hand lopper is hard to come by now days.
Most of them have weak parts and take very little abuse, err
hard use...

Keep me in mind if your parts aren't too expensive.
--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
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