Tweezers

[Don Case]

I have to get some tweezers. I'm torn between normal and "cross locking" styles.   I also saw on one one of Kevin Kenny's vids what locked like a cross locking pair with a slide or something to lock it even harder. I don't want to spend a bunch on "precision" tweezers. Which ones are you guys using/recommending?

[Chuck Seiler]

    I use both, locking and non-locking tweezers and forceps.  There are times when I need to lock it, but most of the time I prefer unlocked.  It gives me better control.

[Bob Cleek]

There's a ton of different tweezers out there, as you've no doubt noticed. I got a new Micro-Mark catalog yesterday and they've got a lot of a new line of tweezers in pretty colors for a lot of money. The colors didn't do it for me. I've found that tweezers can often be found at the lowest prices in beauty supply shops and medical instrument supply houses. (Check eBay for the lowest priced stuff from Asia.) 

 

No matter which tweezer style you buy, you'll eventually pick up more and will find one that ends up being your favorite "go to" for whatever reason. You just have to try a few and see. Like clamps, you can never have too many "grabbers."

 

One thing I can share from experience is that I tend to use the longest tweezers the most because they provide the greatest flexibility when rigging. Short tweezers are fine for rigging until you need to get inboard, then the long ones really come into their own. I'm talking six, eight, and ten inchers. Another instrument, which isn't particularly cheap as tweezers go, is an ear polypus, but worth the price (unless you buy one from Micro Mark!)  You'll find them extremely handy for rigging. Like ordinary tweezers, the longer the better. https://www.pjtool.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=ear+polypus&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=ear polypus&utm_content=Ear Polypus&utm_campaign=Hemostats %26 Surgical&msclkid=f849c4255c0b1adc582ba4f7e196379e

 

There's lots of them on eBay as well.

 

[CPDDET]

I've found there isn't one " do it all" tool for any building process. No matter if your cutting, shaping, sawing or whatever, it takes multiple tools that do the same job in different ways. I have standard tweezers, cross lock and forceps and find them all useful at the proper time.

Edited June 23, 2021 by CPDDET
change

[PRS]

I have this set and they are nice to use. Have to be careful as they are very sharp on the ends.

 

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07K126S4K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

[Roger Pellett]

I have both the conventional type, both blunt and pointed ends, and the cross locking type.  Most of the time, I prefer the conventional type as the spring loaded cross locking type is more likely to launch small parts into the black hole in my workshop never to be found again.  I consider cross locking tweezers and forceps to be members of the clamp family instead of tweezers.

 

Roger

[James H]

9 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

There's a ton of different tweezers out there, as you've no doubt noticed. I got a new Micro-Mark catalog yesterday and they've got a lot of a new line of tweezers in pretty colors for a lot of money. The colors didn't do it for me. I've found that tweezers can often be found at the lowest prices in beauty supply shops and medical instrument supply houses. (Check eBay for the lowest priced stuff from Asia.) 

 

No matter which tweezer style you buy, you'll eventually pick up more and will find one that ends up being your favorite "go to" for whatever reason. You just have to try a few and see. Like clamps, you can never have too many "grabbers."

 

One thing I can share from experience is that I tend to use the longest tweezers the most because they provide the greatest flexibility when rigging. Short tweezers are fine for rigging until you need to get inboard, then the long ones really come into their own. I'm talking six, eight, and ten inchers. Another instrument, which isn't particularly cheap as tweezers go, is an ear polypus, but worth the price (unless you buy one from Micro Mark!)  You'll find them extremely handy for rigging. Like ordinary tweezers, the longer the better. https://www.pjtool.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=ear+polypus&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=ear polypus&utm_content=Ear Polypus&utm_campaign=Hemostats %26 Surgical&msclkid=f849c4255c0b1adc582ba4f7e196379e

 

There's lots of them on eBay as well.

 

 

I really MUST source some of those in the UK!

[Don Case]

Thanks guys. I occurred to me that arthritic my hands may have a bearing on my choice. Using conventional tweezers means keeping pressure on them the whole time. Any arthritic old farts have a preference🙂

Edited June 23, 2021 by Don Case

[druxey]

Cross-lock style is the answer.

[Nunnehi (Don)]

Although my current project is the Winchelsea, I also build in plastic at 1:200 and have finished the Arizona and Hornet with others waiting on the shelf. These use a LOT of expensive photo etch brass that is both tiny, fragile, and prone to being eaten by the carpet monster - good tweezers are required. Over the years, I’ve tried pretty much everything available from the hobby vendors and found them not up to the job. I’ve recently had really good luck with tweezers from Dumont that are made for use in biology labs and electronic manufacturing. They’re very expensive but super high quality and come in a large variety of shapes and sizes. They are able to handle the smallest stuff with minimal zingers - recommended. Dumonttweezers.com. 
 

Hope this helps,

Don

[druxey]

Same old story - you get what you pay for. Please consider investing in the best you can afford. If you buy cheap , you will need to replace and junk the cheapy anyway.

[wefalck]

Dumont indeed is one of the brands to go to. I have a small arsenal of watchmakers tweezers and also various biological ones that I inherited from my father. He had also a very good dentist one, but that got lost in a house move unfortunately.

 

Tweezers is one thing I would hesitate buying on-line. One really need to see how well they close. Good quality ones then will last for ever, if not mistreated or dropped to the floor. I've been using my favourite one for over 30 years on a daily basis.

 

BTW, don't junk your cheapo ones, use them, when you have to hold hot stuff, e.g. during soldering, as this my draw the temper from your good ones and you don't want to do that ...

Edited June 26, 2021 by wefalck

[Roger Pellett]

My modeling and my wife’s kitchen activities have resulted in trips to the Emergency Room to stitch up cut hands.  On two occasions the Doctor asked if I was a fly fisherman.  When I replied that I built ship models he gave me the tweezers and forceps and said, “We just throw them out.”  They seem to be nice quality.

 

Roger

[druxey]

Seems a rather desperate way to get free quality tweezers, Roger. But to each their own.... 

[Bob Cleek]

37 minutes ago, Roger Pellett said:

My modeling and my wife’s kitchen activities have resulted in trips to the Emergency Room to stitch up cut hands.  On two occasions the Doctor asked if I was a fly fisherman.  When I replied that I built ship models he gave me the tweezers and forceps and said, “We just throw them out.”  They seem to be nice quality.

 

Roger

 

Amazing as it sounds, today it is actually more cost-effective for them to throw the less expensive instruments out than to pay the labor-hours to wrap them up and put them in the autoclave for sterilization. And then there are the liability issues. From what I've heard lately, they aren't giving away unsterilized instruments anymore in many places because with HIV and other diseases in the environment, they consider anything that's been used "biohazardous material" and it goes into the "biowaste" trash. This is also why there is so much disposable medical equipment used these days. My mother was a surgical nurse, what is now called a "surgical assistant." We had all sorts of used surgical instruments in everyday use in our house when I was growing up, but that was in the days when they thought disposable scalpel blades were the greatest thing since sliced bread and surgical nurses spent a lot of their time washing, wrapping, sterilizing, and packing up surgical "trays." (And bedpans! Try as I might, I was never able to get my hands on one of the old fashioned stainless steel "ducks" they used to have, which I wanted for use on my boat. I had to settle for a plastic one.) 

 

Edited June 26, 2021 by Bob Cleek