Tweezers - Japanese vendor Kaneshin

[Landlubber Mike]

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.

 

[druxey]

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....

[pompey2]

They do some great tweezers, I will be getting a couple certainly.

 

Nick

[Bob Blarney]

You might save some money, if you look in a catalog of instruments for a veterinarian's armamentarium. 

[flying_dutchman2]

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

Marcus

[Roger Pellett]

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

[maltbyguy]

Hi I have some excellent tweezers by tweezerman available from several suppliers on Amazon or E bay used mainly by ladies to inflict pain on themselves plucking eyebrows etc 

[Bill Tuttle]

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.

[Bob Blarney]

They look like an excellent value.  I like angulated tips for most work, but some straight pairs are necessary.  Make a habit of protecting the tip with a bit of plastic tubing, e.g. aquarium tubing, after every use, or get/make a storage rack. A drop to the floor can permanently damage a fine pair.

[Landlubber Mike]

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

[Bill Tuttle]

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.

[Guest]

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

[vossiewulf]

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.

[John Cheevers]

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.

[vossiewulf]

Here's the carbon-coated precision tweezers that are my favorites for gluing little tiny bits. The coating provides a noticeably better grip than uncoated ones.

 

Edited January 15, 2017 by vossiewulf