Looking for a decent hand pruning saw, any suggestions?

[zands]

I have never done pruning with a hand saw. Loppers are easier and quicker to use plus you can prune ever higher. I also use regular old tree pruning shears. I did some pruning today. Get an old walking cane and you can grab down branches and snip them with your shears.
When I must saw thick branches like today I use a pole saw/electric chain saw ..........and a 14" regular electric chain saw.

For a hand saw I would just get a camping saw it has more grip.....can use two hands. I have a few in the garage.

The only problem with the loppers (which I think is a "must have" tool) is the cut is not always clean.  I notice that the side of the bark that comes in contact with the jaw gets smashed and looks a little mangled.  I'm not sure if all loppers are created equal but I have a nice pair of coronas that I've been using for almost a decade.

Once your trees get large you will not be thinking about lopper damage and their not so nice cuts. You will bring in the chainsaws and slash away. Electric!!!! Pole mounted and hand held 14" bar cheapos like the $35 one I bought at Aldis. I have another 14" from a yard sale. Mango trees take four-five years to get really rooted in and strong. After this you cannot destroy them. My key phrase here is rooted in. Pour lots of wood chip mulch on them and some chem NPK and they will get rooted in.
Best is throw your NPK on top of the 5" thick mulch, work it in a bit with your hands and guess what. The NPK and minors will get chelated into your wood chip mulch. End result is organic fertilizer for your mango trees.

You Aussies are your disinfecting your massive circular saws?
! No longer available

[zands]

One tool I've found very useful to me is a PVC pipe cutter. It makes smooth clean cuts on thick branches that I can't cut with my hand pruners.

Best idea posted on this thread! Not lopper but shears is what you have presented.

[Cookie Monster]

If you ever do decide to get loppers, the brand to get is Vaca. A funny story -- one of my family members got a job working in the lemon orchards in CA. For his first day of work, he bought the most expensive pair of Corona loppers he could find at Home Depot. At the end of the day, the lopper blade was a mangled mess of bent steel. It looked so bad that the clerk at Home Depot almost didn't let him return it :-). He then got a vaca which, after months of 10-hour day use, looked identical to when he bought them. He eventually gifted the loppers to me. That was 16 years ago, and the blade still looks perfect :-).

I think loppers are fine. The only issue for me is that I find it much quicker to just use a sharp pair of felco hand shears. Hauling the loppers up a ladder or while tree climbing is cumbersome, where the hand shears fit in a scabbard at my side. Anything that I can't cut with the hand shears is ideal for the saw and probably too thick for the loppers to cut nicely anyway. So, the ideal setup is a scabbard off the belt with the felco pruners and a sheath with the silky saw either hanging on the belt or tied to the leg.

The only problem with the loppers (which I think is a "must have" tool) is the cut is not always clean.  I notice that the side of the bark that comes in contact with the jaw gets smashed and looks a little mangled.  I'm not sure if all loppers are created equal but I have a nice pair of coronas that I've been using for almost a decade.

[Finca La Isla]

That sounds like the best combo, very practical.  There are also Silky folding saws from the fairly large "Big Boy" to the much smaller "pocket boy".  These are handy tools as well, depending on the task.
Peter

[cos]

loppers require some 'elbow room' my silky requires some but very little so is always a can do
also mush have the scabbard but they can break . guess should have tied to my leg

[Cookie Monster]

Yah, the other nice thing about a saw is that you have one hand free -- so you can use one hand to stabilize yourself (if you're climbing the tree).

loppers require some 'elbow room' my silky requires some but very little so is always a can do
also mush have the scabbard but they can break . guess should have tied to my leg

[Mike T]

This is a good hand pruner. My friend Peter at Mission Beach now stalks around his orchard looking for stray branches that need the cut.

[Mike T]

I'm sure that Peter's son-in-law who is now afforded pruning privileges is very sensible and doesn't take liberties with pruning tropical fruit trees in the orchard.

[mbmango]

Got a tiny yard with only small trees, but if I've needed to cut any sizable limbs, I use an oscillating tool.