Grass shears differ from

pruning shears Pruning shears, also called hand pruners (in American English), or secateurs (in British English), are a type of scissors for use on plants. They are strong enough to prune hard branches of trees and shrubs, sometimes up to two centimetres thic ...

in being long-handled and having the handles at right-angles to the blades. They can be used to cut grass from a standing position. Two kinds are available: with the blades horizontal and with the blades vertical. Horizontal blades are used to remove grass which has not been cut by the

lawn mower A lawn mower (also known as a mower, grass cutter or lawnmower) is a device utilizing one or more revolving blades (or a reel) to cut a grass surface to an even height. The height of the cut grass may be fixed by the design of the mower, but g ...

, while vertical blades are used for trimming the edges of a lawn.

Background

In 1939, a version of the vertical grass shears was invented having a long handle with a lever at the top, and wheels at the bottom with the shears. This enabled the user to trim the edge of the grass near the sidewalk and driveway. Powered trimmers have for all practical purposes replaced this type of grass shears.

References

{{Garden tools Gardening tools