It has been a while since the last post and for that I apologize. My left wrist, which had been healing nicely, got whacked around in late June/early July and ever since has felt as bad as when I first injured it in May! I have been trying to keep it under wraps since then and trying very hard to not do anything, even typing, that might stress the injury further.
But, I've just been approved as a Felco distributor and I had to share the news! I have sold a lot of Felcos in my time, however, I just wasn't making any commission on the sale, so this is not that big of a change. It should be a win/win situation - students in my classes can get these valuable tools without having to pay high prices and add shipping on top of that. There are inexpensive Felcos that are rarely seen for sale in Los Angeles such as the 160L and 160S (pictured), which have composite handles and the same famous Felco blades. With a retail price of $25 there is no reason any student, or gardener, should suffer with anything less than a Felco. 
I do intend to stock some of my favorites as well - oftentimes in Los Angeles you cannot purchase anything other than the Felco 8, which is the standard ergonomic right hand pruner. I have come to prefer the Felco 6 for my day in and day out pruner - it is smaller and so gets into tight corners with more ease and fits my hand nicely. You can purchase these online for as little as $51 plus tax and shipping; and, while I've not worked out the final price, it will probably be a lot closer to $45 without shipping. I hope to have a few left-handed models and a representative selection of the other popular models.
In line with this, I'll be able to offer grafting knives from Tina and Swiss Army - both brands I use and respect as being good knives with good value, as well as Silky saws, which are the top of the line for pruning saws. I know I'll stock several of the Swiss Army knives most days and for my propagation class (held in the propagation season) I'll add a few Tina knives - including a few left handed models.
I don't have any stock yet and it will be a few weeks before I begin to have an inventory - I expect to carry a larger inventory when I am actively teaching the UCLA Backyard Food Production class and especially for the Propagation class where these are required tools.
If you have Felcos that need repair, cleaning/sharpening/broken parts replaced, give me a call or stop by The Learning Garden. I will give you a fair price and very good service.
Starting from the left: Felco 2 - a good quality, somewhat ergonomic pruner, the Felco 6 the state-of-the-art ergonomic pruner for smaller hands, the Felco 7 with it's rotating handle (and probably overkill for most gardeners not pruning several hundred roses at a time), the Felco 8, like the 6, the standard state-of-the-art right handed pruner for larger hands,which has been my standard pruner for most of the last 25 years, the Felco 9 for southpaws and the Felco 13 for two-handed pruning - if you do a lot of pruning, think hard about adding a Felco 13 for those days of heavy work - an 8 on one's belt on the right side and the 13 on the left will do almost anything you could ask for without countless trips up and down the ladder! The final Felco on the right is an anvil pruner. I will not sell, nor recommend any anvil pruner. I am sure the Felco anvil pruner is well-made, but research shows the anvil style of pruners are much more likely to crush a plant stem while cutting it and they are difficult to make good cuts with because the 'anvil' is much bulkier than the hook of the bypass pruner.
And I can go on... I am very pleased to be able to offer these tools to the West Los Angeles gardening public. Stay tuned for more 'cutting edge' news...
david
