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Full services directory How it worksFor prosAbout Get matched Call (866) 582-8523A homeowner needs sharp bypass pruners, a pair of loppers, and a good hand pruning saw. That set handles everything you should be doing yourself. Pole saws, chainsaws and ladders extend your reach into work where the failure modes are severe, and buying the tool does not buy the training.
Sharp and clean matters more than expensive. A clean cut at the branch collar closes over; a torn or crushed cut is an open wound. Bypass pruners cut cleanly; anvil pruners crush. For anything above about an inch, use a pruning saw rather than forcing loppers through it.
Cut location is the part most people get wrong. ISA's reduction guidance — cutting back to a secondary branch "at least one-third the diameter of the cut stem" — reflects a general principle: cuts should go to a branch or to the branch collar, never leaving a stub in the middle of a limb. Stubs die back and invite decay. If the cut you want to make is not at a branch or a collar, it is probably the wrong cut.
Pole saws are the tool that gets homeowners hurt. They put a cutting edge above your head, with limbs falling toward you, while your balance is compromised, and they encourage you to reach for the branch that is a bit further and higher than you should. If a pole saw is what makes a job possible, that job has already crossed the line into professional work.
On chainsaws: a homeowner saw is a legitimate tool for cutting fallen wood on the ground into manageable pieces, with chaps, eye and ear protection, and both feet planted. It is not a tool for cutting above your head, from a ladder, on a leaning or storm-damaged tree, or on anything under tension. OSHA identifies electricity and falling objects as leading hazards in tree care work; a saw plus elevation plus stored energy is how those combine.
That is worth something only while you are still choosing. Tell us what is going on and we will match you with a few tree service pros whose licence and insurance we have already checked — free, no obligation.
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