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Tweezers - Japanese vendor Kaneshin


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I dabble in bonsai as another hobby, and this Japanese vendor came very highly recommended by folks on the bonsai boards that I frequent.  Great quality tools, excellent customer service, and very fast delivery from Japan (on the order of less than a week).

 

http://kaneshin.shop.multilingualcart.com/index_en_jpy_9.html

 

 

While on their site, I noticed that they offer a full line of various types of tweezers.  It's been hard for me to find good tweezers for modeling.  I think I've bought and otherwise gone through about a dozen tweezers, and really only have one pair that seems to do it for me.  So, I bought a few from that website figuring I would try them out.  

 

Wow, the quality, feel and fit are fantastic on their tweezers.  Much better than what I was trying from vendors like Micromark.  A good chunk of their tweezers may larger than what we need building model ships, but they have a few shorter ones that work very nicely.

 

Anyway, just thought I'd pass their name along in case there are others that use tweezers a lot and have had a hard time finding good ones.  I'm not affiliated with them in any way, just a very satisfied customer.

 

Mike

 

Current Wooden builds:  Amati/Victory Pegasus  MS Charles W. Morgan  Euromodel La Renommèe  

 

Plastic builds:    SB2U-1 Vindicator 1/48  Five Star Yaeyama 1/700  Pit Road Asashio and Akashi 1/700 diorama  Walrus 1/48 and Albatross 1/700  Special Hobby Buffalo 1/32  Eduard Sikorsky JRS-1 1/72  IJN Notoro 1/700  Akitsu Maru 1/700

 

Completed builds :  Caldercraft Brig Badger   Amati Hannah - Ship in Bottle  Pit Road Hatsuzakura 1/700   Hasegawa Shimakaze 1:350

F4B-4 and P-6E 1/72  Accurate Miniatures F3F-1/F3F-2 1/48  Tamiya F4F-4 Wildcat built as FM-1 1/48  Special Hobby Buffalo 1/48

Citroen 2CV 1/24 - Airfix and Tamiya  Entex Morgan 3-wheeler 1/16

 

Terminated build:  HMS Lyme (based on Corel Unicorn)  

 

On the shelf:  Euromodel Friedrich Wilhelm zu Pferde; Caldercraft Victory; too many plastic ship, plane and car kits

 

Future potential scratch builds:  HMS Lyme (from NMM plans); Le Gros Ventre (from Ancre monographs), Dutch ship from Ab Hoving book, HMS Sussex from McCardle book, Philadelphia gunboat (Smithsonian plans)

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Interesting selection, Mike. Another good source for small, quality tweezers is watchmakers' or jewellery supply houses. The quality of these is much higher than, say, Micro Mark. Then there's always eBay....

Be sure to sign up for an epic Nelson/Trafalgar project if you would like to see it made into a TV series  http://trafalgar.tv

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  • 1 year later...

WOW, Will get a few of these for both my Bonsai and ship building.

Marcus

Current Built: Zeehaen 1639, Dutch Fluit from Dutch explorer Abel J. Tasman

 

Unofficial motto of the VOC: "God is good, but trade is better"

 

Many people believe that Captain J. Cook discovered Australia in 1770. They tend to forget that Dutch mariner Willem Janszoon landed on Australia’s northern coast in 1606. Cook never even sighted the coast of Western Australia).

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I have two sets of tweezers, surgical forcips, and sissiors from trips to the emergency room. One from a not so near miss table saw accident and one from a kitchen knife accident that my wife had Thanksgiving a year ago while visiting our son out-of-town. Each time, the surgeon asked if I was a fly fisherman. Apparently, some hospitals throw them out, others autoclave them for reuse.

 

I realize that I am the only accident prone ship model builder on this forum, but If you just happen to be in this situation, it never hurts to ask.

 

Roger

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The Bonsai source is a great idea, will check that out.  I have always found that it really pays to buy the high end Swiss made tweezers.  Rather have one pair of these than six pair of the poorly made ones.  I find myself always looking for the Name brand Swiss ones.

Bill

 

Current Build:

Kate Cory Scratch Built

 

Previous Builds:

Benjamin W. Latham Scratch Built

H A Parks Skipjack Scratch Built

Charles W. Morgan Model Shipways Kit

Rattlesnake Model Shipways Kit

Diligence Model Shipways Kit

 

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I came across these tweezers from one of my ship-in-bottle books (or maybe it was one of the Phillip Reed books on miniature ship model making).  Very expensive, but incredibly precise tips.  Some of the tips are so small that if dropped, you probably ruin the tips.  I bought a few to try out when I get down to very small detail work - given the price, I'm probably going to use these sparingly, as the larger, less precise tweezers are usually fine for most modeling purposes.

 

https://www.dumonttweezers.com

Mike

 

Current Wooden builds:  Amati/Victory Pegasus  MS Charles W. Morgan  Euromodel La Renommèe  

 

Plastic builds:    SB2U-1 Vindicator 1/48  Five Star Yaeyama 1/700  Pit Road Asashio and Akashi 1/700 diorama  Walrus 1/48 and Albatross 1/700  Special Hobby Buffalo 1/32  Eduard Sikorsky JRS-1 1/72  IJN Notoro 1/700  Akitsu Maru 1/700

 

Completed builds :  Caldercraft Brig Badger   Amati Hannah - Ship in Bottle  Pit Road Hatsuzakura 1/700   Hasegawa Shimakaze 1:350

F4B-4 and P-6E 1/72  Accurate Miniatures F3F-1/F3F-2 1/48  Tamiya F4F-4 Wildcat built as FM-1 1/48  Special Hobby Buffalo 1/48

Citroen 2CV 1/24 - Airfix and Tamiya  Entex Morgan 3-wheeler 1/16

 

Terminated build:  HMS Lyme (based on Corel Unicorn)  

 

On the shelf:  Euromodel Friedrich Wilhelm zu Pferde; Caldercraft Victory; too many plastic ship, plane and car kits

 

Future potential scratch builds:  HMS Lyme (from NMM plans); Le Gros Ventre (from Ancre monographs), Dutch ship from Ab Hoving book, HMS Sussex from McCardle book, Philadelphia gunboat (Smithsonian plans)

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Good point, Mike.  The Dumont tweezers are some of the best of the Swiss made tweezers.  If they do talk a fall to the floor they can usually be repaired with a few strokes on an Arkansas sharpening stone.

Bill

 

Current Build:

Kate Cory Scratch Built

 

Previous Builds:

Benjamin W. Latham Scratch Built

H A Parks Skipjack Scratch Built

Charles W. Morgan Model Shipways Kit

Rattlesnake Model Shipways Kit

Diligence Model Shipways Kit

 

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You are so right. I have a number of the hobby tweezers that needed constant 

tweaking to keep them somewhat operable. I decided to save my pennies and go for 

an overpriced quality pair. I bought one from EXCELTA. Swiss made carbon steel.

Amazingly good. They are not overpriced to me now and I have to save up and fill out

my complement of different styles.

I would never buy the cheap ones again. These are absolutely worth the money.

 

JMS

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The place I start for tweezers is electronics manufacture supply. They have more options for quality tweezers than anyone, plus probes (rigging tools) and cutters - I use my little full-flush end cutter constantly.

 

Here's the tweezer section. Just about every metal and other material is available in a myriad of styles. Unfortunately their new site design has made it really hard to filter on some of the important factors - the ones I use most are smooth with carbon-coated tips, which provides massively better grip. But I don't see a way to filter on that, and all I'm seeing at the moment are the diamond-coated ones that are the same idea but more expensive.

 

That said, I like some of the options I'm seeing on the bonsai site, thanks for posting that.

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Not counting all the cheapo's, surgical cast-offs, and those intended to groom fingers, I have several intended for use in entomology. Can't remember where I got them, but they are my best.

John

 

Member: Hampton Roads Ship Model Society

Current Builds: Tugboat Dorothy  Newport News Shipbuilding Hull #1 (complete)

                            Iron Clad Monitor (complete) 

                            Sardine Carrier which I will Name Mary Ann (complete)

                            Pilot Boat John H. Estill Newport News Shipbuilding Hull #12 (my avatar)

                    Harbor tug Susan Moran

                    Coast Guard 100' patrol boat

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