These loppers are perfect for cutting brittle dead wood but are not good for making clean cuts on live branches. You also need a pair of bypass loppers if you care about the health of a living plant that you are pruning. Unfortunately the bypass loppers are not ideal for both jobs. They will quickly dull if you use them to cut dead brittle branches. I therefore wound up with both of these loppers and a pair of Fiscars bypass loppers of similar size. Both are excellent tools and have a 3 to 1 mechanical advantage that makes it incredibly easy to cut large branches.