Tweezers

This week for Tools of the Trade Tuesday I thought I would discuss tweezers. I think most of us that work with minis and have for any length of time have at least one pair of these in among our tools. I know I have several varieties and styles as you can see in the photos at the end of this post. I am not positive that these are all of them but at least they are the ones that I use.

You can see that tweezers have some properties in common but they do come in a variety of styles. Which is better?? Well, that is a really good question. I have my very favorite ones and yet when my daughter uses my tools she hates that pair. She prefers another style. I think you really have to try several styles and pick for yourself. You will know when you have found “your pair” because they really will feel like they are an extension of your fingers. Several of the pairs I have just feel awkward to me but I know people that swear by them.

My suggestion is to go shopping at the craft store and take advantage of the sales or the coupons and get different ones to try. I do wish more stores had some tweezers out where you could try them. It would make shopping much easier.

I am lucky in that my favorite pair are actually among the cheapest in the local store so I have several pairs of that one.

I still try out new styles just to see if there is something better out there. In fact for my birthday last year I asked my daughter for some tweezers, she asked what kind I wanted and I told her to surprise me I wanted to try new ones. She did give me a nice variety, a couple like what I normally use and several new ones to try including one pair with a built in light. Those are fun to use but just don't feel right in my hand I wish they did. I do use them when I am working on things that are hard to see.

When you are shopping for tweezers you will find that there are two major categories (for lack of what to call this) the type that when you squeeze them they close and the type that when you squeeze them they open. I do use the first type the most but the second type is really handy when you need to clamp a glued project that is too small for normal clamps.

So let's talk about some of the tweezers from my collection.

I'll start with my favorite pair, I love the tiny tips on this pair, they are well balanced and very lightweight. They really do feel like an extension of my fingers.

 Next this pair is very similar to the first ones but because of the coating on the tips I find them to be hard to use. They seem to not be balanced in my hand.

These are actually my daughter's favorite pair but for me they seem a little short. Also I can never get a comfortable grip on them.

 This is the pair with the light, I think if the tips were smaller (more like the first pair) I would love these. As they are they are I just can't get a good grip easily so I don't use them as often as I would like. 

 

 These I really never use except to hold things for painting. I just don't find them to work well for me. Maybe if (and it is a big if) they were longer I might like them better.

I tried to use these one time and haven't picked them up again since except to move them. This pair just is the wrong everything for my, too short, wrong angle, I just plain don't like them. 

 

 I love this pair for some things they are easily my second favorite pair. I love that they have a lock so I can use them to grip things for gluing. They are really well balanced and wonderfully thin tips. They are very heavy compared to the other pairs. 

 

Now onto the second type of tweezers the type that are closed until you squeeze them.

I only have one pair of these and I don't use them often, usually only for clamping things. The spring tension on them is extreme and my hand gets very tired if I use them very much.

I hope that this has been helpful to you. Just because someone (even me) says that a certain pair of tweezers is their favorite it really doesn't mean that you will love them too. You won't know until you have them in you hand and you are actually using them. So go to the craft store and shop the sales or use a coupon and find the perfect pair for you.