DEAS 1179: 2023  
ICS: 25.140.30  
HS 8201.10.00  
© EAC 2023 – All rights reserved              First Edition 2023  
  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Hand-held hedge shears  — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  
 
 
 
 
 DEAS 1179:2023  
 
 
 
 
 
  
Copyright notice  
This EAC document is copyright -protected by EAC. While the reproduction of this document by 
participants in the EAC standards development  process is permitted without prior permission from EAC, 
neither this document nor any extract from it may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form for 
any other purpose without prior written permission from EAC.  
Requests for permission to reproduc e this document for the purpose of selling it should be addressed 
as shown below or to EAC’s member body in the country of the requester:  
© East African Community  2023 — All rights reserved  
East African Community  
P. O. Box 1096  
Arusha  
Tanzania  
Tel: 255 27 2504253/8  
Fax: 255 27 2504481/2504255  
E-mail: eac@eachq.org  
       Web: www.eac -quality.net  
Reproduction for sales purposes may be subject to royalty payments or a licensing agreement.  
Violators may be pr osecuted  
 
 DEAS 1179:2023  
Foreword  
Development of the East African Standards has been necessitated by the need for harmonizing requirements 
governing quality of products and services in the East African Community. It is envisaged that through 
harmonized standardization, trade barriers that are encountered when goods and s ervices are exchanged 
within the Community will be removed.  
In order to achieve this objective, the Community established an East African Standards Committee mandated 
to develop and issue East African Standards.   
The Committee is composed of representativ es of the National Standards Bodies in Partner States, together 
with the representatives from the private sectors and consumer organizations. Draft East African Standards 
are circulated to stakeholders through the National Standards Bodies in the Partner S tates. The comments 
received are discussed and incorporated before finalization of standards, in accordance with the procedures 
of the Community.  
East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace with technological advances. Users of the East 
African Standards are therefore expected to ensure that they always have the latest versions of the standards 
they are implementing .  
DEAS 1179 :2023  was prepared by Technical Committee EASC/TC 042, Production and general engineering . DEAS 1179:2023  
Hand -held hedge shears  — Specification  
1 Scope  
 
This draft East African s tandard specifies dimensions , material,  safety  and other requirements f or both 
powered and non -powered  hand -held hedge shears  used for trimming (cutting, pruning) hedges or 
solitary shrubs (bushes) . 
 
 
2 Norma tive references  
 
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated 
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced 
document (including any amendment s) applies.  
 
ISO 4957 , Tool steels  
ISO 3573 , Hot-rolled carbon steel sheet of commercial and drawing qualities  
EAS 134 , Cold formed steel sections — Specification  
ISO 6506 -1, Metallic materials — Brinell hardness test — Part 1: Test method  
ISO 6507 -1, Meta llic materials — Vickers hardness test — Part 1: Test method  
ISO 6508 -1, Metallic materials — Rockwell hardness test — Part 1: Test method  
ISO 10517, Powered hand -held hedge trimmers — Safety  
ISO 2859 -1, Sampling procedures for inspection by attributes — Part 1: Sampling schemes indexed by 
acceptance quality limit (AQL) for lot -by-lot inspection  
 
 
3 Terms and definitions  
 
For the purposes of this standard, the following terms and definitions shall apply : 
 
3.1 hedge trimmer  
machine fitted with reciprocating blades made of metal, intended to cut and form hedges, bushes and 
similar vegetation  
 
3.2 cutting device  
part of the assembly consisting of cutter blade and shear plate, or of the cutter blades together with any  
supporting part, which performs the cutting action and that can be single - or double -sided  
 
3.3 cutter blade  
part of the cutting device having blade teeth which cut by a shearing action either against other blade  
teeth or against a shear plate  
 
3.4 blade tooth  
part of the cutter blade which is sharp ened to perform the shearing action  
 
3.5 width of cut  
effective cutting length of the cutting device measured from the inside edge of the first blade tooth or  
shear plate tooth to the inside edge of the last blade tooth or shear plate tooth  
 
3.6 front hand le 
handle located at or towards the cutting device  
 
3.7 rear handle  
handle located furthest from the cutting device  
 
3.8 throttle lock  
device for temporarily setting the throttle in a partially open position to aid starting  
 
3.9 throttle control lock -out 
device which prevents the unintentional activation of the throttle trigger unless the operator releases it  
  
  DEAS 1179:2023  
3.10 throttle control  
blade control  
device activated by the operator's hand or finger for controlling the cutter blade movement  
 
3.11 blunt extens ion 
extending blunt part of the cutting device or an extending part of an unsharpened plate fitted to the cutting 
device to prevent contact with the moving cutter blade  
 
3.12 adjustable handle  
handle whose position can be modified either by movement or by rotation  
 
3.13 drive shaft  
shaft used to transmit power from the engine to the cutting device  
 
3.14 drive shaft tube  
tube which contains the drive shaft and connects the engine to the cutting device  
 
3.15 split -boom  
design feature which permits the separat ion of the drive shaft tube for ease of storage and transportation  
 
3.16 dry weight  
weight of the unit with empty fuel/oil tank(s) and without cutting device cover  
 
 
4. Shape  
 
4.1 The typical shape of powered hand -held hedge trimmers is given in Figure 1  
 
 
 
a) Single -sided hedge trimmer  
 
 
 
 
b) Double -sided hedge trimmer  DEAS 1179:2023  
 
 
 
c) Extended -reach hedge trimmer  
 
Key 
1 rear handle  
2 throttle control  
3 front hand barrier  
4 front handle  
5 cutter blade  
6 cutting device  
 
Figure 1 — Examples of types of powered hand -held hedge trimmers  
 
4.2 The cutting device and cutter blades for powered hand -held hedge trimmers is shown in figure 2 
and figure 3. 
 
 
 
Key 
1 cutting device  
2 cutter blade  
3 blade tooth  
4 blunt extension  
5 unsharpened plate  
 
Figure 2 — Cutting device  DEAS 1179:2023  
 
 
 
 
Key 
1 cutting length  
 
Figure 3 — Width of cut  
 
 
4.3 A typical shape of the  non-powered  hand -held hedge shears  is given in Fig ure 4 . 
 
 
 
Figure 4 — Non-powered hand -held hedge shears straight -edge type assembly  
 
 
 DEAS 1179:2023  
5. Dimensions  
5.1 The size of  the non -powered hand -held hedge  shear shall be 200, 225, 250,275, 300 or 325 mm  as 
shown in figure 4. The  tolerance on declared  size shall be ± 5 mm.  
5.2 The dimensions of the powered hand -held hedge shears shall be in accordance to ISO 10517.  
 
 
6 Material  
 
6.1 Blade  
The blade shall be manufactured from high carbon steel; alloy steel or tool steel. Tool steel should be 
according to ISO 4957.  
 
6.2 Tang  
The material used for blade may also be used for tang.  
 
6.3 Handle  
Timber, PVC or any other suitable material  shall be  used  for handle . 
 
6.4 Ferrule  
Ferrule shall be made of either mild steel sheet according to ISO 3573 , or steel tube according to  EAS 
134 or brass . 
 
 
7. Hardness  
 
The cutting edge of the blades shall have Rockwell hardness  in range of 45 to 55 HRC or equiv alent 
Brinell or Vickers  hardness. The hardness shall be tested within a distance of 10 mm from cutting edge.  
 
 
8. Safety requirements  
 
The powered hand -held hedge trimmers  shall comply with the safety requirements according to ISO 
10517 . 
 
 
9. Other requir ements  
 
9.1 The blade and the tang may be formed from one piece or from separate pieces.  
 
9.2 The she ar shall have two blades; one with plain edge and other with serrated edge, or both with 
serrated or with plain edge.  
 
9.3 One blade shall have a cutting n otch or notches adjacent to the hinge joint to shear thick stems.  
 
9.4 The shears shall be substantially joined by means of a bolt with washer and nut in a manner such 
that there is no excessive looseness, sidewise movement, or binding when shears are open ed or 
closed. The bolt shall be 8 or 10 mm size. The wing nut shall be preferred. Alternatively the nut may be 
locked semi permanently through three punch marks on the nut threading.  
 
9.5 The tang shall extend to full length of the handle or part of it. In  case of partial fitment, the minimum 
length of tang inside the handle shall be 150 mm. In case it extends to full length, the tang shall be fixed 
by a bolt or screw with washer.  
 
9.6 The handle shall be provided with ferrule. The minimum thickness of ferr ule shall be 1.5 mm. In 
case of partial fitment of tang in handle, the ferrule shall be attached with tang by rivet or pin. The rivets 
or pin shall be neatly headed. The diameter of rivet shall be 3 to 6 mm.  
 
9.7 The cutting edge shall be bevelled up to a distance of 10 mm and sharpened ready for use.  
 
9.8 The closing of the shear shall be limited by means of either integral or permanently stops on either 
the heels or shanks of the blades.  
 DEAS 1179:2023  
 
10. Workmanship and finish  
 
10.1 The shear shall be finished smoot h without any objectionable pit marks, cracks, etc.  
 
10.2 The exposed metallic parts shall be coated with oil or grease for prevention of rust or corrosion.  
 
10.3 The wooden handle shall be coated with polish or lacquer.  
 
 
11. Marking and packing  
 
11.1 Mar king  
Each hedge shear shall be marked with the following particulars:  
a) Name of manufacturer  and/or registered  trade -mark,  
b) Size  or power capacity,  
c) Batch  number  or serial  number.  
d) Country of origin  
 
11.2 Packing  
The hedge shear shall be packed as agreed to between the purchaser and the supplier.  
 
 
12. Sampling  
 
The hedge cutters /trimmers/shears  shall be sampl ed for inspection and testing according to  ISO 2859 -1. 
 
 
13 Test methods  
 
The hardness shall be tested according to ISO 6506 -1, ISO 6507 -1 or ISO 6508 -1.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 DEAS 1179:2023  
Bibliography  
1) IEC 60335 -2-91:2002 Household and similar electrical appliances – Safety – Part 2 - 91: Particular 
requirements for walk behind and hand -held lawn trimmers and lawn hedge trimmers  
2) IEC60745 -2-15:2009 Hand -held motor -opera ted electric tools - safety Part 2 -15: Particular 
requirements for hedge trimmers  
3) IS 2563:1978 (Reaffirmed 2009) Specification for hedge shears, straight -edge type  
4) ISO 10517:2019 Powered hand -held hedge trimmers — Safety