Since the op wanted to know what didn't work for those over 50, I have to say I think I have found what does work for me and already discarded what doesn't. And, being welllllll over 50, I can't always remember what most of those discarded tools were.

I know what does work for me, my cobra head weeders, long and short handled, are the perfect angle for me to comfortably use. Bahco hand pruners come in different sizes and, for me, the small size is easy on my arthritic hands. My Felco's work beautifully but they are heavy and a bit too large to be comfortable for a long period of time.

Always have Felcos and hori knife in back pocket.

I have used that plastic dipping stuff. It works but needs to be recoated more often than I have time for. Paint works best if you just want to be able to find your stuff among the flora and fauna.

I have resolved myself to the fact that I have to buy small pruners every other year. They simply don't stay sharp. Sharpeners don't really work. It's almost easier to think of them as disposable cutting instrument, much like household scissors rather than a tool. Trouble is I don't throw the old ones out! They are good for something?? I have about 6 pr of dull pruners here and there. I cuss everyone of them out every time I pick it up and use them! Totally my fault. Maybe among my habits, I need to incorporate a Garden Tool Day(s) where I repair, repaint, oil and sharpen my all stuff? meh

A guy who sharpens knives has a booth at our local Farmer's Market. For a dollar or two I get my pruners sharpened every few months. Also, you are able to buy replacement blades for pruners like Felco and Bahco. Sharp is good, that is a quality that does make things easier on us oldies.

Ever since consumers started expecting metal objects to stay "shiny" even if never dried or oiled or even cleaned, manufacturers have shifted from carbon steel to stainless steel. You might as well call most stainless steel "edgeless steel".

"Carbon steel" rusts easily but is hard and can hold an edge. It is fairly easy to heat treat it WELL so that the edges come out hard but not terribly brittle.

Affordable stainless steel is harder to heat-treat at all, and almost impossible to heat-treat so well that the edge comes out hard. As a result, most stainless steel tools are made cheaply and given a fairly cheap, generic heat treatment that leaves the edges anywhere between soft and very soft.

It's hard to put a good edge on soft steel, and using a soft edge turns it right into a dull edge.

There are a few very expensive stainless alloys, like 440C and molybdenum-vanadium alloys. The metal is expensive and the heat-treating is slow and fussy and expensive - but if you put enough money and effort into it, you CAN get very, good hard, stainless edges. Surgical scalpels are one example.

For consumer items like pruning shears, most manufacturers decide to make their money from undiscriminating consumers and those who will never come back with any return business. They target the MASS audience of people who will always buy the cheapest item they can find, and then complain about the quality.

Apparently most people fall into that category, because the parking lot in front of Wal-Mart is HUGE.

Here's a trick question: "How big are the parking lots in front of stores that only sell high-quality products even though they cost more?"

It's a trick question because there aren't any stores like that any more. Customers fled the prices, and never came back for the quality.
That's why we keep building more Wal-Marts, importing cheap trash, and putting skilled workers into unemployment lines.

The next step will be pruners with plastic blades. Plastic is even cheaper than stainless, and manufacturers are bound to explore the outermost limits of "HOW cheap can we make it before they stop buying trash?"

Hmmm - ceramic blades?

Ceramic blades are almost impossible to sharpen (they say that even a factory sharpening never reaches the original sharpness.

Ceramic knife blades are prone to chipping, but maybe a well-cared-for pruner would never touch grit.

At least they don't rust!

Time for some truth in advertising: 95% of my knives are stainless steel. I rescue used knives from Goodwill, usually for 69 cents each. I clean 'em up and re-sharpen them. Most are just crummy old "soft stainless", but a few are "half-decent stainless".

I would give them away or sell them, but for now I just accumulate them and clean them up.

Someone at my local Goodwill figured out to grab any good carbon steel blades for himself before putting them on the shelf. For a year or so, I could occasionally find a good old knife there, if it was dirty, beat up and rusty, priced from 69 cents to a few bucks. Then someone learned to "high-grade" the used carbon steel knives flowing past his desk. Now none show up (but there might be some other scrounger who's much more dedicated than I am, and he just finds them first).

A few years after the carbon steel ones disappeared, , he learned that very GOOD stainless knives hold their value, and the price went from " 69 cents or a few bucks" right up to $6-9 for anything half-decent. So I've stopped accumulating.

I haven't ever bought a pair of pruners at Walmart but I guess Lowe's etc and Fiskars might fall into that cheap metal category.

I love my el cheapo $10.00 pruners from Walmart and buy myself a new one each year so I'll be sure to have one in the shed, one in the garage, and always the one I just lost. I love them more than the Felco or Fiskars...or maybe they are Fiskars. I'll go look. They're so inexpensive they don't even have a name on them! The orange locking "thingie" is the feature I enjoy most. It can't accidentally lock leaving you in the lurch as you finally grab a long rose cane to cut it.

I agree Arlene. At that price you can afford to have several sharp pair around and not worry about maintenance year after year. I think they are meant to be disposed of as cheap as they are and as cheaply made as they are, don't you? I am still getting a grip on this Disposable Society of ours. I've spent spend years and lots of money looking for a good pair of pruners that will last and can't find them? Then I think they are making them disposable, no?

I lost my "good" pruners a few years ago and then found them about a year later. I cleaned them up and sharpened them and they continue to hold an edge after sharpening for a long time compared to any other pruners I have owned. They are not a brand name pruner, but I do remember that I bought them at a farm supply store years ago.

Yes, I've since painted the handles bright orange. I never want to lose them again. They fit my hand and I can work for hours with them without my hand hurting at the end of the day.

I'd love to have a back-up to them, but I haven't seen anything that looked as good as my old pruners.

Rick - re: ceramic blades vs grit - like my Felcos never touch grit?
I have two pair of the same Felcos for the past 20 years. If one pair goes dull, I have a backup pair until I get the chance to sharpen them. I can take them apart to clean or replace blades which I like. And I am hard on them, mostly cutting branches that would normally require a heftier pair of loppers. My favorite spade is 20+ years old and gets sharpened when needed. I hate disposable stuff. Even old kitchen steak knives get used in the garden sometimes.

Cheryl - I've had to toss really cheap pruners (imitation plastic, I'm sure) but these pruners managed to survive a winter in the garden only because I didn't realize I left them behind. When I found them I used WD40 and it worked like a charm. So now I have three pair - no waiting. I don't view them as "disposable", more like inexpensive and worth it. I have several Felco and Fiskars but they are all too big for my average hands.

Yes! Size matters! For pruners anyway. You know when they for you're hands just right. Good hand-fit means better grip! Why would a pair that fit a man's large hands be ok fit a woman's smaller hands? Worse, they are usual packaged so your can't try them on for size. I had one pair that fit my hand like a glove . I lost them course even though they were red. I found them 6 months later up in the roof! They were badly rusted but worked like a charm! ETA without being chauvinistic great quality tools made for small-sized women would be a boon as they do garden gloves, shoes, and hats! Some of us are simply smaller than men but often equally capable.

The packaging is grief. My husband used to buy me a pair, as a Christmas stocking stuffer, but those that appeal to him are too large for me. I'm guessing the packaging helps prevent theft but the long handled pruners and most other tools can be handled yet not a simple hand pruner. Maddening!

I should get them all out and take a photo. Some were not worth a dime. Springs break, blades get dull, but that really cheap plastic lives on forever!

ShadyGreenThumb said:I haven't ever bought a pair of pruners at Walmart but I guess Lowe's etc and Fiskars might fall into that cheap metal category.

To me, that's the heart-breaker.

There will always be some companies making and selling heap trash. But I thought that Fiskars was, or used to be, the high-priced-spread, and had quality to match.

As with most companies, some !@#$%^&*()_ bean counter probably convinced them there was more profit in selling two million pieces of junk for $20 each, than two thousand GOOD TOOLS for $40 each.

Replaceable and well-sharpen-able blades are ecologically responsible!

RickCorey said:
Replaceable and well-sharpen-able blades are ecologically responsible!

And much less frustrating!

Just might be that the very cheapest tools are sold to those who aren't serious about gardening.

I am wondering if the OP is still with us??

RickCorey said:

To me, that's the heart-breaker.

There will always be some companies making and selling cheap trash, as long as consumers buy it in preference to anything expensive enough to have been made to last.

But I thought that Fiskars was, or used to be, the high-priced-spread, and had quality to match.

As with most companies, some !@#$%^&*()_ bean counter probably convinced them there was more profit in selling two million pieces of junk for $20 each, than two thousand GOOD TOOLS for $40 each.

Replaceable and well-sharpen-able blades are ecologically responsible!