scissors, shears, cutters for rigging

[palmerit]

What's the best option for scissors, shears, cutters, clippers, or something else for cutting rigging line? I tried sprue cutters (side cutters) and they weren't great (even though they're a nice Tamiya version). Neither was a Xuron PE cutter. These might not work great because I've used them for lots of other things (plastic, metal, wood) and I know from my wife whose a quilter not to use "cutters" for fabric on other things. I can use my scalpel, but that doesn't work (well) if the line is elevated. I've seen some people suggest nail clipper - we have a nice pair and I might try those.

 

I was frustrated because I was trying to do a really tight cut on a little bit of line after a knot (that I have glued with CA) and couldn't get anything to trim it as close as my OCD brain wanted it done.

[ccoyle]

Believe it or not, I've had the best luck with the scissors on my Swiss Army (Victorinox) Pocket Pal.

[kurtvd19]

Whatever you try start with a brand new tool and don't use it for anything else.  You will never be able to tell what will or will not work for you by trying tools used on other materials first.  You can always use the brand new tool you tried and found not being the right tool on other tasks after you try it for rigging line but not the other way around.

Kurt

 

[kurtvd19]

I have found surgical scissors to be best for my use.  They don't have to be German or Swiss made for this.

Kurt

 

[yankee clipper]

Have gone through the same process you described in finding quality scissors. A pair I have been using now for over year is the Pro'sKit SR-333 cuticle scissors. They have satisfied my need for a sharp close to the knot clean cutting tool.

Highly recommend them. Would inclose a picture but I us an Apple smart phone.

[Gregory]

43 minutes ago, palmerit said:

...couldn't get anything to trim it as close as my OCD brain wanted it done.

I have the same problem (OCD), so my solution is to use polyester thread/line and I use a small pointed soldering  iron to make the nibs disappear.

[mtaylor]

I've tried nail clippers, razor blades, all the usual stuff.   I finally bought a small "sewing scissor" from a fabric store.  Works a charm.  And I do NOT use it for anything else.

[Jim Lad]

My final choice has been a pair of fly-tiers scissors. Not cheap, but they work beautifully and cut right down to the very tip. As has already been said - used for rigging and nothing else.

 

John

[palmerit]

I ordered some Dr. Slick Razor scissors. They seem to be highly recommended for fly tying. And when googling "Dr. Slick and site:modelshipworld.com" I found a few people recommending them. Someone recommended to keep them completely closed because they'll cut completed rigging otherwise - I'm guessing that was from their personal experience. I bought a couple different ones. I'll post again with my thoughts after they arrive and I get a chance to use them.

 

I ended up buying from a fly fishing supply place online (jsflyfishing.com) rather than amazon. While I order from amazon probably multiple times a week, all they had for the Dr. Slick scissors was third party resellers and I was certain that some of them could well be knock-offs. I ended up paying a few dollars for shipping instead of getting the shipping "free" with my Amazon Prime, but at least I'll know that they're legit (and new, not used). I once ordered batteries from amazon priced too good to be true and I'm certain they were expired batteries, or even used batteries, that someone took out of the packaging and repacked in a plain brown box. Lesson learned.

Edited January 18 by palmerit

[barkeater]

I use fly tying scissors to cut the thread I use to splice or seize the lines which is 6/0  or 136 denier. For cutting the lines themselves which are heavier I use Bonsai scissors.

Rich

[wefalck]

It depends how thick the 'rope' is. For very thin (fly-tying) threads and ropes made from them I use so-called Castrovejo eye-surgery scissors that come in various sizes. There are traders (e.g. on ebay) who sell 'seconds' that for some reason or another have not made it through the QA procedures that allow them to charge doctors or hospitals 150+ €/US$/£ for them. They still may be in the range of 30 to 50 €/US$/£, but worth their money.

 

[kurtvd19]

I agree about the Castrovejo scissors.  I got a pair when a surgeon in our club brought a brief case full of various tools & scissors to a meeting.  He had purchased them in a retirement sale and I know he made a bit of profit and I still only paid $30.  I have since purchased some of them off ebay and I found the ebay scissors to work identically to the original surgeon quality one I originally purchased.  Maybe a surgeon could tell the difference but I sure can't.

[paul ron]

how many pairs have you gone through to find that perfect pair?

 

i have very denanding need for scissors. i need three sizes but all must be to my specs. i want a good feel on the cutting fingers, they must cut from tip to joint. i test my tip cutting ability on a thin sewing thread cutting as close to the tip without slipping out of its mouth.

 

i get surgical scissors now and rate them as the best of the best because after hundreds of mediocre scissors i just went ocd. i also found quality controll issues within the same brands n origins but the difference's are very slight... although made in pakastan were excelent.

 

i cant understand why a regular scissor cant cut in my left hand as well as my right? is it me or is it memorex? LEFT HANDED SCISSORS? i gotta do this all over again?!

 

 

 

[vossiewulf]

3 minutes ago, paul ron said:

i cant understand why a regular scissor cant cut in my left hand as well as my right? is it me or is it memorex? LEFT HANDED SCISSORS? i gotta do this all over again?!

I am mostly ambidextrous with tools and I too get annoyed that my nice scissors won't cut right in my left hand

[paul ron]

Just now, vossiewulf said:

I am mostly ambidextrous with tools and I too get annoyed that my nice scissors won't cut right in my left hand

me too. gone through hundreds of em and not one, including my favorites, will cooperate. hahahahaha 

[druxey]

Castroviejo scissors are the way to go, either straight or curved. They may be used either right or left handed!

 

Kurt: A surgeon can tell the difference in quality, but so might the patient!

[palmerit]

8 hours ago, kurtvd19 said:

Castrovejo scissors

How much do they usually cost? Suggestions on a place to buy them?

[kurtvd19]

Check Amazon and eBay - not the surgical quality but we don't have that kind of $$.

[Dr PR]

I have a small scissors that I got at a local sewing supply shop. They cut all the sizes or rope/thread that I use, and do cut all the way to the tip. But they are typical scissors with blade that slide past each other, and cannot be used to cut line ends very close to knots and such.

 

I bought some cheap side cutters at Harbor Freight that cut very close to blocks and such, and cut to within 0.01 inch (0.254 mm) of the tip. However, you have to be careful selecting them. There were about two dozen in the store, and only two had jaws that closed together parallel so no light came through a crack.

 

For extremely close cutting to clip off the ends of line at knots and such I have good set of cuticle cutters. They are very sharp and cut all the way to the tip. The jaws are made at an angle to the handles, reducing interference from the handles (and hands holding them).

 

None of these tools were very expensive but they do the job. 

[wefalck]

It doesn't work with plain threads, particularly cotton, but once stiffened with varnish, one can use so-called cutting-tweezer to nip-off rope close to knots etc.. They are used by watchmakers to shorten watch-springs and have very hard cutting edges cut flat on the outside, so are cutting flush. They are also around 30 of the usual currency units.

 

BTW, a major advantage, in my view, are that the Castrovejo-scissors are lightly sprung, so you don't have to put your finger in and can operate them from the tip of your fingers. The light leaf-springs give you a positive feel of what you are cutting. They are available straight and curved.

 

Edited January 20 by wefalck

[serpe]

I purchased a pair of Stella Scissors 2.0 from Rising Fish. They are made for fly fishermen. They work very well for cutting rigging in close quarters.

[Nirvana]

On 1/20/2025 at 2:04 PM, serpe said:

I purchased a pair of Stella Scissors 2.0 from Rising Fish. They are made for fly fishermen. They work very well for cutting rigging in close quarters.

I just placed an order of these scissors, shouldn't take long to get them as manufacturing is done in Idaho.

[Fritzlindsay]

On 1/17/2025 at 9:00 PM, kurtvd19 said:

I have found surgical scissors to be best for my use

These work great, but my favorite are using high quality barber scissors such as Matsui or Joewell.  Not cheap, but extremely good at cutting clean and accurately.

[palmerit]

On 1/20/2025 at 3:14 AM, wefalck said:

but once stiffened with varnish

Any particular kind of varnish that you'd use on rigging knots? I've used white glue so far. Does varnish let you cut closer to the knot?

[wefalck]

I am using so-called zapon varnish, which is fast-drying and remain a bit elastic. It is basically invisible and does not add volume to knots etc. Old-time nail-varnish, not the modern acrylic version, is/was essentially the same. The main use of zapon varnish is to coat silver- or brass-ware to prevent it from tarnishing. As the USA seems to have overtight regulations on organic solvents in some states, it may be difficult to find. Unlike white glue or acrylic varnishes, this varnish can be easily redissolved with a drop of acetone, if you need to adjust the knot.

 

Not sure, why you want to cut close to a knot. Normally, when a rope is tied to something with a knot, there is a 'tail', the length of which depends on the situation. The only situation I can think of for cutting close would be when belaying to a pin and you want to prepare the coil separately.

 

Another situation for making close cuts would be after splicing. Here, the varnish prevents the strands from slipping out after being cut back closely.

Edited March 4 by wefalck

[palmerit]

27 minutes ago, wefalck said:

Not sure, why you want to cut close to a knot.

To be honest, I don't know. I've just seen a bunch of people comment (in this thread even) about being able to cut close to a knot being a good thing. So it's better to leave a short tail for authenticity then? How long? The width of the knot? Just trying to think what would be appropriate at scale. I think one reason for cutting them is that the cut ends tended to fray. I suppose varnish (like glue) applied before cutting (and letting it dry) would keep the cut line from fraying.

Edited March 4 by palmerit

[palmerit]

21 minutes ago, wefalck said:

zapon varnish, which is fast-drying and remain a bit elastic. It is basically invisible and does not add volume to knots etc. Old-time nail-varnish, not the modern acrylic version, is/was essentially the same. The main use of zapon varnish is to coat silver- or brass-ware to prevent it from tarnishing. As the USA seems to have overtight regulations on organic solvents in some states, it may be difficult to find.

Yeah, it looks like this is hard to get - with lots of warnings. One site said it would sell only to professionals. And given that I build in my house, I wouldn't want to use that inside.

 

Would you recommend the white glue method or would something like a Vallejo acrylic matte varnish be better for setting knots (and fixing the lines to minimize fraying after a cut)?

[wefalck]

Objectively, there is no reason not to use it in the house. We use only tiny quantities and would not keep the container open for long times. Of course, if I were to treat a silver chandelier or something like that, I would like to have good ventilation ... However, the law is the law.

 

You would need to find a fast-drying varnish based on an organic solvent. The point is relatively low viscosity, good penetration because of low surface tension, good wetting properties (particularly when working with man-made fibre ropes), and easy reversibility of the bond. These are all properties that do not really apply to acrylics or PVA glue. I have never used the latter two for this purpose for those reasons.

 

[palmerit]

No place seems to have Zapon varnish. Is this similar?

https://www.naturalpigments.com/natural-isolating-varnish.html

 

If not, are there particular key words that might be looked for?

[wefalck]

I wouldn't really know, as the description does not mention the solvent. I know what kind of varnish is used for, but wouldn't know the viscosity or drying time of this particular product.

 

Another option used by some people here would be a shellac solution. The solvent is alcohol, which dries fast, but not as fast as other types of organic solvents. The advantage is that from shellac flakes and alcohol you can mix up solutions to any viscosity you find useful.