How to fix Fiskars pole pruner that won't fully open?

[cgirdis]

Hello Handypeople, 

I hope someone might be able to help me. I have a telescopic Fiskars pole pruner that has been great but at some point the cutting "jaw" stopped fully opening and now I can only cut thin twigs with it, not sticks and small branches. I attach a photo that shows as wide as it now opens. The rope function inside is still going strong & the blades are still sharp and cut well. You can see from the photo that the chain is rusted but it still seems to have been moving fine and just to make sure I've used sprayed with WD40 on too. Does anyone know how I can get the cutting jaw to open fully again please? Cheers.

[JacobZ]

Hi @cgirdis,

Thank you for your question and welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, it is fantastic to have you with us.

If you manually open the jaws, is there any obvious point of friction? For example, is the bolt holding the two jaws together binding, or is the chain binding?

Removing as much rust as possible is certainly the place to start. I'd advise you to apply some CLR to any of the rusted parts and allow it to soak for around 5 minutes. Once the CLR has soaked for a while, use Hand Wire Brushes to remove as much rust as possible.

Once the rust is removed, I'd advise using 3-In-One Multi-Purpose Drip Oil on the chain as opposed to WD-40.

After these steps, if you find that the jaws are still not opening fully, the issue may be caused by the spring losing tension. If this is the case, I'd suggest contacting our Spare Parts team for assistance with ordering a replacement cutting head and spring.

Let me know what you think and if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob