Regular tending of grape vines is an essential part of viticulture practice and helps ensure a good crop. After all, a good crop is the foundation for good wine. Pruning dormant vines is one of the most critical tasks. A pruner must know what to remove and what to leave, and how to make an efficient, clean cut.
Pruning during the growing season helps maintain the shape of a vine, training it to adhere to the vineyard’s trellising system. There are several tools to use, and the best pruning tool depends on the plant and branch size. In this article, we focus on pruning saws, which can be used for branches 1 ½ to 5 inches thick.
Harvest In San Luis Obispo County
The wine grape harvest in San Luis Obispo County typically occurs from late summer to mid-autumn, primarily between August and October. Currently, the wine harvest for 2025 is underway, with winemakers processing fruit and focusing on the season’s wine. The harvest period marks the end of the growing season for the region’s many vineyards. The exact timing varies by grape variety and specific vineyard.
According to an article written by Hannah Poukish on September 28, 2025, for The Tribune titled “Wine Grape Harvest Begins in SLO County. Why 2025 Was a ‘Perfect Growing Season’”, white wine grapes, including chardonnay and sauvignon blanc varietals, were the first to be picked at the end of August.
The cool and dry 2025 growing season in San Luis Obispo County led to extended grape growing. Additionally, the low rainfall this year challenged the grape vines, but the mild temperatures preserved the grape quality and flavor development. This combination provides for a lot of freshness in the vintage.
Wine History Project Of San Luis Obispo County Collection
WHP-V&F200A Vineyard Pruning Saw
Circa 1870-1890
Many grape growers made their own tools, and others were able to buy their tools. The French vineyardists and other ethnic groups traded or purchased traditional instruments designed in their own culture to use in their vineyards. The Wine History Project purchased a number of ancient tools from a French collection in Northern California.
The Wine History Project has one vineyard pruning saw in its collection, as shown here. There are many other vineyard tools that have been described in earlier articles. Please read about them here.
I would describe a pruning saw as a hand tool with a long, sharp blade designed for cutting branches. The capability of the tool is that it can cut up to 10 cm/3.937 in of branches. It uses a back-and-forth pulling motion, and its specialized teeth, which I would describe as serrated, create cleaner cuts than a general-purpose saw. This helps the grape plant heal more quickly. Notice the serrated edge on this vintage tool.
Nowadays, pruning saws come in various styles, including fixed-blade, folding, and long-pole saws for reaching high branches. Also, unlike the pruning saw in the WHP collection, modern pruning saws often have curved blades, which can be particularly effective for cutting
Additional Thoughts
While researching this article, I have studied tools of various cultures used in California viticulture and noted that many of the tools the Wine History Project obtained were originally from a French collection. We will include that aspect in the tool maker section.
The tool also appears to have lost a wood hand grip on the iron. This particular vintage tool contains its own anvil on one end. The surface of anvils is always hard, and in our collection, the item is constructed out of the same hard iron as the saw itself.
Anvils are important to a fieldworker. An anvil is paramount for a worker to be able to fix their tools without the need to stop their work in the field and return to a “shop” to repair the tool. This is a necessity without power tools or modern tools.
Typically, the fieldworker in the late 19th or early 20th century would have a field tool holder which would hold a stake, an anvil, and a sharpener. As mentioned on our website and in the link earlier in this article, field workers in vineyards would create containers, field tool holders, to hold the tools they required. These holders were large enough to hold sharpening stones along with the tools and were fastened to their belt. They were unique to the worker as most created their own: wood, metal, leather, horns, etc.
Here are a few of the field tool holders in the Wine History Project collection.
Field Tool Holders In The Wine History Project Collection
That is why this pruning saw is so unique. Most pruning saws from this time appear like the following images. Was this one in the Wine History Project hand forged? There are no markings on the tool to solve the mystery.
Tool Makers In The Late 19th Century
Vineyard pruning saws were primarily manufactured by general hand tool companies in both the United States and Europe. Specialist vineyard tool makers existed, according to our research, but many implements were created by artisans in larger toolmaking centers.
The American tool industry was expanding rapidly in the mid-to-late 19th century. One of the most famous and prolific saw manufacturers was based in Philadelphia. Founded in 1840, Henry Disston & Sons made a vast array of saws and other tools and was known for using high-quality steel in the manufacture of their tools. It is highly likely that Disston produced and sold pruning saws during the 1870s, given its dominance in the United States.
Many pruning saws would have been produced by skilled workers in urban factories in the 1870s. Smaller artisans and blacksmiths also created tools to fit the specific needs of local grape growers. Tools were supplied to vineyard owners through merchants, general farm supply catalogs, and local hardware stores.
During my research, I have found numerous small companies and individual artisans in industrial centers across New England and the Mid-Atlantic that produced agricultural cutting tools, including specialized saws for orchard and vineyard work.
The French Influence
As a major wine-producing country, France has a long history of tool manufacturing for viticulture. The company known as Pradines began making pruning shears (Fr.secateurs) around 1865. This illustrates the existence of specialized French pruning tool makers around the same time.
Specialized agricultural tools were also commonly made by local edge-tool makers (le taillandier) who crafted and repaired tools for nearby farms and wineries.
Many Frenchmen came to California to mine for gold. But there was “gold in them ther’ grapes.” Many of the French men traveled south to the Mediterranean climate of the Central Coast to grow grapes in Monterey County, San Luis Obispo County and Santa Barbara County and have influenced the techniques and varieties grown in their areas.
