Hi Meagi , mate I had a pair of these branch cutters for 22 years of service here on every plant I had , in fact they were the only real bonsai tool I had . They were used for everything from tip pruning , branch cutting and root pruning ,
They have practically worn out being sharpened so many time the stop pin had to be removed for them to close then I had to bend the handles for them to work . Still have them and use them a root pruner now .
I have replaced them with different brands but haven't found an equivalent that can handle my multi uses for a single tool . I actually snapped a pair of well known branch cutters , just not tough enough .
I have a pair of kikuwa leaf trimmers and have been very disappointed with their quality in comparison to Kaneshin.
The trimmers sometimes bend the small branch, leaf rather than cutting!
Enjoy!
One of the fabulous things about growing bonsai is as you get old and decrepit your trees get old and beautiful