What works
- + Cleanest cuts of any shear we have tested — no crushing on woody stems
- + Every component is replaceable: blade, anvil, spring, bumper, grip
- + Smaller handle than the standard No. 2 — comfortable for indoor scale work
- + A genuine lifetime tool with proper servicing
What doesn't
- − Roughly 5× the price of a basic supermarket shear
- − Overkill for someone who prunes twice a year
- − Not the right tool for very fine work like cuttings under 3mm — use scissors there
Overview
Felco is a Swiss family-owned tool maker founded in 1945. Their bypass secateurs have been the professional standard in orchards, vineyards, and gardens for fifty years. The No. 2 is the iconic full-sized model; the No. 6 is the slightly smaller variant designed for smaller hands and lighter work, which makes it the right Felco for most indoor plant care.
We tested the No. 6 across six months of UK houseplant work: pruning Monstera, taking Pothos and Philodendron cuttings, deadheading Peace Lily flowers, dividing Spider Plant pups, and trimming back a leggy Rubber Plant. It performed unfailingly through all of it.
Why Pruning Shears Even Matter
A bad cut is not just cosmetic. Crushed plant tissue heals slowly, opens the way for fungal infection, and produces visible callusing scars that don’t go away. A clean, sharp cut closes within days and is barely visible after a season. For propagation cuttings in particular, the difference between a clean cut and a crushed one is often the difference between roots and rot.
Cheap pruning shears do not stay sharp, and once dull they crush more than they cut. Felco shears stay sharp for years, and when they do eventually need it, you sharpen them yourself with a hand stone in ten minutes.
Design
The blade is forged steel, then hardened, then ground to a curved edge that engages a stationary anvil. This bypass design (blade slides past anvil, like scissors) makes a clean shearing cut rather than the crushing cut of anvil-only shears. The cutting bite is roughly 20mm diameter — enough for any indoor woody stem you’d realistically prune.
The handles are aluminium with red plastic grips, contoured to fit a smaller adult hand. The classic Felco lock — a small pivoting catch at the base of the handles — holds the shears closed when not in use. The spring is a simple wire coil that returns the blades to open after each cut; this is the most-replaced part on a Felco and a spare costs about £5.
Performance
The cuts are clean. We tested on stems from 1mm (Pothos vine) to 15mm (Rubber Plant trunk cutting), and every cut was a clean slice with no crushing, no tearing, no roughness at the edges. Cuttings rooted reliably in water and soil; pruning wounds on the parent plants healed within a week.
The shears feel right in the hand. Lighter than the No. 2, with a handle span that’s natural for someone with hands smaller than large-male. The lock catches firmly and releases easily one-handed. The spring tension is enough to return briskly without fighting you.
After six months the blade edge still shaves a fingernail (the rough sharpness test). No play in the pivot, no looseness in the spring, no chipping on the cutting edge.
Replaceable Everything
The under-appreciated case for Felco: every part of the shear is available as a spare. The blade, the anvil, the spring, the bumper, the lock, the handle grips. Felco publishes the parts diagram openly. A pair bought today can be kept in service for decades with occasional £5–£15 part replacements.
This matters for the cost calculation. A £60 Felco kept for 20 years is £3/year. A £12 supermarket shear that goes dull in 18 months and gets thrown away is £8/year and adds metal-and-plastic waste to landfill. The shear that lasts wins on both economics and embodied carbon.
Where Felco Isn’t the Right Buy
Two cases. First, someone who genuinely prunes their houseplants twice a year — the Felco is over-tooled for that level of use, and a £15 mid-range shear is fine. Second, work that’s finer than 3mm diameter — taking very small cuttings, deadheading delicate flowers, trimming individual leaf tips — is better done with small precision scissors, which the Felco isn’t trying to be.
For anyone propagating regularly, taking cuttings for friends, pruning a maturing plant collection, or doing seasonal hard pruning on woody indoor species — yes, Felco.
Sharpening
The honest thing about a Felco is that you have to sharpen it occasionally. Maybe once a year for indoor use. The technique is simple: a flat hand stone, run at a 20° angle along the inside face of the curved blade in steady strokes from base to tip. Five minutes. Felco sells a £15 dedicated sharpening stone but a generic medium-grit waterstone works fine.
If you don’t sharpen it ever, the shear gradually moves from “scissor-cleanly” to “needs more force” to “starts crushing stems.” Most owners notice at the force-increase stage and sharpen then.
The Verdict
The Felco No. 6 is the right pruning shear for any UK indoor plant keeper who’s serious about the work. Sharper than cheaper alternatives, more durable than anything in its category, designed to be serviced rather than replaced. The £60 buys a tool that outlives its owner. For very occasional pruning a budget shear is fine; for everyone else, this is the once-and-done purchase. See the propagation guides for what to actually do with them. For methodology see how we review.
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