These well worn Okatsune bypass shears belong to Greg McNally and Tune Faulkner of Fall Brook Tree Farm in Wheelock Vermont. Tune uses hers all year, but most intensively before the holidays when she makes wreaths. She makes thousands of cuts a day when she’s going strong and has been using the same shears for years. We came up with 500,000 cuts, but suspect it could easily be twice that. This photo and the next one are by Amy Palmer.
Bonsai and other uses
I use my Okatsunes (the 8″ ones, some people prefer the 7″) in my garden and on my field grown bonsai, and sometimes for heavy top and rootpruning on potted trees. Though I’m not sure if I’ll ever approach five hundred thousand cuts, I have been getting good mileage for years and imagine that, as long as I don’t lose mine or give them away, I’ll never need another pair.
Okatsune shears are so good that if you just lay them down next to what you want cut, they’ll take care of it while you tend to other tasks.
Okatsune shears, the Chuck Norris among the mere mortal shears ;-)