Thanks for taking your time to read our reviews on the best single handled grass shears that are currently available on the UK market. This hand tool can be very useful for trimming grass in areas that are difficult to reach with a mower. As an example grass growing up the side of a garage, trimming the edges of lawns, or doing small patches of lawn.
These dingle hand use grass shears are often referred to as grass scissors, simply because of their scissor like action.
Many users say, using these is a bit like giving your lawn a good neat haircut. Buyers like the one handed operation, as it leaves their other hand free to be able to do things like keep foilage out of the way, or simply to steady themselves, when working.
We would like to point out that all the manufacturers of these, such as Wilkinson Sword, Spear & Jackson, WOLF-Garten, Gardena, Fiskars etc design these to be used to trim the edges of lawns. In other words they are made to neatly and quickly cut grass.
Some naughty gardeners are tempted to use these on hedges, shrubs etc, and they really shouldn't. You need something heavier duty for those such as hedge clippers. The blades on these single handed grass shears are very sharp, and they will only stay like that if you don't damage the blades.
Our strong advice is to keep these for the edges of lawns and use them on grass only. That way the blades will stay sharp, and the shears will last you for a very long time.
Most of the better quality versions of these allow the blades to rotate so as you can cut at different angles, and that is important, as it will make your life a great deal easier. The better models will also have some type of non-stick blades which help deal with the sap in the grass. They should, and in our opinion, must have a safety lock on them, to stop them from being opened, especially if there are children, or grandchildren around.
Best Selling Single Hand Shears (Scissors)
Just below, we have listed the best selling single handed grass shears, and have completed a review on each one. Fiskars seem to be the most popular choice for this type of tool. However, the WOLF-Garten shears do get the highest buyer satisfaction rating, so we shall start with those.
1. WOLF-Garten RILL Comfort
Fiskars and Gardena are the two brands who sell the most of this type of one handed grass shears. When we did our research, these shears have the highest buyer rating at 92% so we wanted to point that out.
These shears cost on average between £15-20, so these are at the higher end.
They come with a solid 10 year guarantee which is excellent, and have a nice comfortable grip, and really easy to open and close.
These are the ones I use myself now, having used Fiskars before that. Personally I have found that the blades are slightly sharper, and the head is easier to swivel around, which just makes life that little bit easier.
Check Amazon UK for Availability - Price when reviewed £24.52 - 92% customer satisfaction based on 1,200+ buyers
2. Bahco Gs-76 Single Handed Grass Shear
These shears are at the lower end of the price point so are very good value for money. The Bahco brand make a range of tools and are more famous for their socket sets and hand tools such as spanners and screwdrivers.
The brand would not be that well known in the gardening world, but these shears are well liked by some buyers.
The bid advantage they have over other shears is that they are spring loaded and that mechanism does make them much easier to use - ideal for anyone with weaker grips or who may suffer from arthritis issues.
The blades can be rotated to 3 different positions which is useful for trimming the edge of your lawns
It is also worth noting that the design of the blades means they self-sharpen so that is another big plus.
Check Amazon UK for Availability - Price when reviewed £20.41 - 88% customer satisfaction based on 500+ buyers
3. GARDENA Classic Grass Shears
These are the biggest selling one handed grass shears online from the popular Gardena brand. As the name would suggest, this is a very well known gardening brand make a lot of different gardening tools, and known best for their watering systems and lawn care products.
These come with a 25 year guarantee which explains why buyers trust and like these shears, and I have used these and I do like them a lot
Like most of these on the list, the head rotates, and they feel comfortable to use.
These have self-sharpening blades and according to the many thousands of buyers they do an excellent job of trimming the edges of lawns.
Check Amazon UK for Availability - Price when reviewed £18.95 - 86% customer satisfaction based on 3,000+ buyers
4. Wilkinson Sword Single Hand Grass Shear
These have non-stick blades which are made from stainless steel. The blades are 15 cm (6") long from the pivot point to the tip of the handle. The actual cutting edge is about 13cm.
They also have a 180 degree rotating blade - you can engage this by grabbing the entire blade and twisting the handle around. - Just be aware that it is actually the handle that turns.
The buyers of these say these are light to hold and very easy to squeeze together. One buyer said that you can do one metre of lawn edge with 10 strokes of these, and that takes about 30 seconds to do.
They have a safety lock, which is easy to secure when you have finished using your shears.
The only real complaints about this tool were buyers saying they were useless on shrubs. They are not designed for using on shrubs and continued use will render the blades useless. A couple of buyers said the blades did go blunt after a period of time. Like any blade these may need sharpened from time to time.
Check Amazon UK for Availability - Price when reviewed £15.90 - 90% customer satisfaction based on 1,000+ buyers
5. Fiskars Servo-System Grass Shear GS42
I used these for a long time and they do cut really well. It is also really useful that you can rotate them through 360 degrees to pick any angle you may need.
I used them on and off for about a year and then they just broke one day and were beyond repair. There is an Allen key screw that goes into plastic and that is what broke.
They are sharp and very good, and for lighter use they are still very useful though just be aware of the issue I have described above.
Many buyers like these and generally speaking Fiskars do make good quality products.
Check Amazon UK for Availability - Price when reviewed £25.59 - 86% customer satisfaction based on 3,000+ buyers
6. Spear & Jackson 8130RS - Razorsharp Single Hand Shears
These shears do have some UK buyers, but the ratings are under 80% and that always makes us slightly wary. Around 11% of all online buyers gave these a poor rating mainly down to the actual design and the overall quality.
Mainly the complaints are about the locking lever and that there is little comfort in the handle.
That said, there are also plenty of buyers who think these are good so clearly a division in opinion.
When we used them, we didn't like the handle either though we had no issues with the cutting or the safety lock, other than it is a bit stiff to use.
Check Amazon UK for Availability - Price when reviewed £12.09 - 78% customer satisfaction based on 600+ buyers
Maintenance Tips
- If you buy grass shears, check them as soon as you take them out of the package. If you see any defects don't take the risk and get them replaced - if you leave it too long you lose the right to do that
- Pay particular attention to safety catches and make sure it is a nice smooth action
- Check the alignment of the blades and that they align perfectly. They need to be sharp and aligned to cut fine blades of grass
- After each use, wipe them dry with a cloth as there is a lot of stick sap in grass.
- Once a month or so, apply a little oil to the hinge part as that helps keep them moving freely
- Ideally the blades should be sharpened once a year, though it is hard to find someone who will do this. Some people can do this using a grinder, but you do need to be careful
The beat grass shears are the Wolf-Garten Rill comfort shears and they get the highest buyer ratings online. They have a very comfortable grip, the blades are sharp and they are very easy to use.
The best tool for edging a lawn is an edging knife, which is a rather strange name, for what it actually does. It has a long handle with a half moon shaped blade that helps create a really nice border around your lawn. To create a neat edge on the actual lawn itself, the hand shears shown above do an excellent job. You can also use long handled grass shears to keep the edge tidy, as well as some electric, petrol or cordless grass trimmers. There are lots of choices available and it will really depend on how much you want to spend, and how precise you want the edge of your lawn to look.
You can cut grass with shears, but it really depends on the exact type of shears you may be considering. Unfortunately, in the world of gardening tools can often be called by slightly differing names. The shears we have shown in this article are one handed operation shears and those are perfect for trimming the edge of a lawn, or for trimming grass growing around a deck, a shed or a garage. You can also use sharp hedge shears for this purpose, or long handled shears to do the same lawn edging job.
The difference between lawn shears and edging shears is that traditional lawn shears are in fact hedge shears, and edging shears are for trimming the edge of your lawn. Allow us to explain further. Practically no-one uses grass shears to cut their entire lawn as a mower is used for that purpose. Back in the day, people who didn't own a mower, and had a small garden would have used grass shears, which are basically the same as hedge shears.
Edging shears are however really only designed for doing lawn edges and nothing else.
