Patent ID: 7640667

Claim:
A hand tool for cutting plant material, the tool comprising: a first and a second co-operating blades interconnected by a pivot assembly whereby the second blade is pivotable relative to the first blade between an open position and a closed position; a first handle carrying the first blade; a second handle carrying the second blade; a lock button disposed on the first handle; wherein, when the lock button is in a locked position and the first and second blades are in the closed position, the lock button directly engages a step on the second blade to prevent the second blade from rotating relative to the first blade, the pivot assembly comprising: a bush on which both said blades are mounted with at least one of the blades being supported from the bush by a bearing ring of low friction-material; and a spring disposed on the bush for pivotally biasing the two co-operating blades, wherein the bush comprises two threaded parts inter-engaging each other by one of the parts being directly screwed on to the other part so that the two blades are clamped together between opposed abutment faces on the two parts of the bush; and said two parts along with the spring are located inside an opening defined by the first handle, said two threaded parts of the bush forming a hub defining a rotational axis for the movable handle/blade assembly; the bearing ring has a T-shaped cross-section comprising: an axial part extending in an axial direction of the hub and disposed between the bush on one side and both the blades on the other side, and a radial part extending radially outwardly from the hub from a middle portion of the axial part and arranged between adjacent opposed faces of the first and second blades; wherein each of the blades is rotatably supported on the bush by the axial part and rotatably supported on the other blade by the radial part.