What Do You Use to Cut Flower Stems? A Florist's Guide.
Photo Credit: Felipe Correia
After being a florist for years, we have come across everything you would have to cut in the field. Through trial and error, we have used many different types of cutting tools. We thought it would be a great resource to give an overview of what we think works the best for cutting flowers and occasionally something with a thicker woody stem.
The best tools for cutting and processing flower stems are pruning shears, a tabletop stem cutter, and a small folding hand saw. With these, you will be able to cut and process almost any flower, or branch.
We have compiled a small list of these must-have cutters, and why you need them.
Our Favorite Flower Shears, made by ARS.
The Most Useful Shears to Cut Flower Stems.
Pruning shears are a florist’s best friend. As florists, We try many different kinds, find something we like, and stick with them. The best clippers are of medium size. They don’t need to be large as most flower stems are not extremely thick (Larger pruners tend to be too heavy for my taste.). Floral stems for the most part are delicate, so you need a pair of clippers that are sharp and cut with ease. Dull pruners will ruin a stem and reduce the flower’s ability to drink water.
We think that the ARS HP-130DX (Link to Amazon) is the best overall shear on the market. They are heavy-duty, but not heavy in hand. They are very sharp and can cut through almost everything you will encounter in the flower world. We think the size is perfect for flowers and really lands in the sweet spot when it comes to blade size, sharpness, durability, and weight.
To read our full review of these pruners Click Here.
These needle nose clippers are great for cuts in tight places.
Small Snips are Great for Delicate Cutting Situations.
Sometimes you need some clippers to fit into a smaller space. For these situations, you are going to want clippers with a needle nose shape. This shape will allow you to be way more accurate with your cuts.
We think the best clippers for delicate situations are the ARS Needle Nose Pruner HP-SE45. These are truly fantastic clippers and also work great as all-around floral shears. They are sharp and very lightweight due to the handle being made fully of plastic.
We like to use these shears to do edits to our arrangements because they allow a slightly bit greater level of precision when making cuts. We don’t want to cut the wrong stem on accident when we are moving fast. That is a great way to have a bad day.
Cutting Flowers by the Bunch.
When you buy a lot of floral bunches, you don’t want to cut them by hand with shears (unless they are very delicate.). It is possible, and we have done it. But once you get a flower stem cutter that you attach to a table, you won’t think twice about using it.
The best way to cut flowers in bulk is with a Flower Table Cutter. You simply place the stems of the entire bunch onto the blade at a slight angle, then pull down the lever which cuts through them with ease. This saves an immense amount of time when processing flowers for use in design.
We got ours at the local flower market, but if we were to get one from Amazon, we would choose this one. It is the same design that we have in our studio.
The blade is extremely sharp so be careful while using it. But after a few bunches, you will start prepping your florals like a champion.
One small tip that I have seen others do is to install onto a piece of wood like a 2x4. This will lift it up off the table a little bit. This helps to keep the flowers bunches from getting potentially damaged on the tabletop while cutting. Every little bit of clearance helps, as we all know sometimes flowers can get pretty large.
A small hand saw is a must for branches.
What Should You Use When you Need to Cut a Branch?
Branches are a big part of floral design. Sometimes they have flowers on them, like cherry blossom, or magnolia, and they look great in installations. Chances are your floral shears will struggle when going up against a branch. That is when you bring out the hand saw.
The best tool to cut through a branch is a hand saw. They easily cut through branches of up to 4 inches and beyond. Most branches florists come across will be no larger than 2 inches. The hand saw should be in every floral designer’s tool kit.
The Pocketboy by Silky is our absolute favorite hand saw. Made in Japan with great manufacturing, the folding hand saw just feels like quality in your palm. We have cut branches up to 4 inches with it. The crazy part is, we sawed through them in under a minute. This saw works great. We think the 130mm size is the best.
The Pocketboy did great on this large branch.
Not only is it sharp, but the blade is not flimsy. The sturdiness made us feel safer while using it. Some hand saws have really weak feeling blades. Not the Pocketboy.
The blade folds up into the handle so it ends up packing down to a very small footprint. This is awesome because we can easily take it up a ladder when we are working on arches. The ability to just throw it into our pocket (pun intended) and not worry about it while designing is so nice.
When you unfold the saw, the blade locks so you can be sure it is safe to use. The locking mechanism is strong and easy to disengage.
Overall we love this little guy and think it should be in every florist’s tool kit.
Let me know in the comments below what your favorite tools for floral design are.
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