On the subject of tweezers ...

[DKS]

Got a tweezer question - When I handle Fox Valley N scale detail parts (locomotive grabirons) for installation with a pair of fine-tipped tweezers, the paint on the grabirons always scrapes off. What am I doing wrong?

Try applying some thick acrylic paint to the tips of the tweezers to act as a cushion. The sharp edges of the tweezers' raw metal tips easily damages painted wire, especially since paint barely bonds to the wire.

[Chris333]

I'd say what I mostly use tweezers for is to hold parts while painting. Some of them have about 1/8" of paint build up on them that I scrap off every once in a while.

[mecgp7]

A good measurement of quality might be their tweezer-launch of tiny parts tendency. I shudder to think how many grab irons I've put into orbit.

Suppose that explains all the space junk they are talking about? When you think of the number of grab irons, trip pins, bolster pins and horns, etc. it's possible.

[Billg]

My son ordered a replacement battery for his iphone.  The kit came with two pairs of tweezers, one has a straight flat blade and the other is hooked to a point (great for holding screws).

[peteski]

Even thought I have more than a dozen pairs (some are non-tweezers here, like a sprue cutters) . . .



. . .I usually gravitate to couple of favorites (two closest to the ruler).

I also included the other two to show what how I added non-marring tips.  The red tips are simply pieces of wire insulation stripped from a piece of wire which had fairly thin plastic insulation.  The black tips are pieces of small diameter thin-wall heat shrink tubing stretched over the tips.

I also modify some of my tweezers. I grind the tips so they are in perfect alignment. I usually use a cutoff wheel as a grinder (I gently pinch the tweezers around the cutoff wheel running at slow speed).
Another modification for stiff tweezers (which require a lot of pressure to close them) is to grind the back parts of the flat blades to thin them down. I do that on a bench grinder. Once they are thinned, the tweezers become much easier to close for all those very precise tweezing jobs. 

[tlaswell]

My favorite pair can be found at Menards for 5 bucks.  I've got 7 or 8 of them now.  I have 3 workbenches that all have a dedicated pair, one lives in my Train Taco storage boxes, one stays with the soldering station, and a few more in our train show tool kits.    That's not including the dozens of other tweezers collected over the years.  There's one additional pair that stays with the soldering station that I frequently use, but the General Tool tweezers are always the go-to. 

https://www.menards.com/main/tools-hardware/hand-tools/specialty-hand-tools/general-tools-reg-5-bevel-point-tweezers/401aa/p-1444431235059-c-9163.htm?tid=7086302181653882802&ipos=2

I never thought of buying a 2nd or 3rd pair.  I occasionally grab a pair to take with me to shows in case a coupler pops off or something.  I should get a 2nd pair of tweezers and reading glasses for my show travel bag.  If something needs tweezers it is probably small enough to warrant the glasses.  That reminds me, the head mounted flashlight needs to go in there too.  This travel bag is going to have to get bigger.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Anyone else having a tough time finding GOOD needle point tweezers? I like a VERY sharp tip, and very little spring resistance. Both help to hold very small parts (you don't need to grip as tightly to counteract the spring-action). When applying long stripe decals, I often use tweezers to pull the decal off the backing, then lay the naked decal onto the model. This keeps the long stripe true and straight. Few tweezers are good enough to be able to do this delicate work.

Mascot tweezers are WAY too firm. The Tamiya set were both too firm and not sharp enough. All the sets I have tried from Amazon bend or loose their shape at the tip.

I have two sets of really good ones I bought over 20 years ago, and have no clue who made them or how I can get more.

[wazzou]

Check here.  https://www.all-spec.com/

[peteski]

Anyone else having a tough time finding GOOD needle point tweezers? I like a VERY sharp tip, and very little spring resistance. Both help to hold very small parts (you don't need to grip as tightly to counteract the spring-action).

As I said earlier, I grind down the back part of the tweezers prongs to thin them and make them easier/softer to close.  I also form and shape the tips to whatever works for me.

[Frisco Larry]

The best tweezers I have is a pair I got with a suture removal kit at the hospital.  They don't reuse them, and I asked if I could have "my" kit.  Comes with an excellent pair of scissors for precise trimming of decals too.

[VonRyan]

Anyone else having a tough time finding GOOD needle point tweezers? I like a VERY sharp tip, and very little spring resistance. Both help to hold very small parts (you don't need to grip as tightly to counteract the spring-action). When applying long stripe decals, I often use tweezers to pull the decal off the backing, then lay the naked decal onto the model. This keeps the long stripe true and straight. Few tweezers are good enough to be able to do this delicate work.

Mascot tweezers are WAY too firm. The Tamiya set were both too firm and not sharp enough. All the sets I have tried from Amazon bend or loose their shape at the tip.

I have two sets of really good ones I bought over 20 years ago, and have no clue who made them or how I can get more.

I don't know the brand off the top of my head, but I have a pair of old Swiss-made watchmaker's tweezers with a needle point that's about the finest I've ever seen, and the spring-ness is perfect. I'll have to make a point of checking the brand next time I can reach my toolbox.

[robert3985]

Here are my favorite tweezers for handling very small parts.  They were a gift from a friend of mine who is a surgical assistant at a plastic surgery clinic and are about $400 when new.  Made of titanium and very very precise.  Small parts don't rotate and squirt out like in some of my other tweezers.  When the surgeon drops an instrument and it hits the floor, they are automatically thrown away.  This pair hit the floor and was functionally undamaged, but on the way to the garbage.  My friend salvaged them and since I had been building several turnouts for him, gifted them to me, along with a bunch of different surgical blades still in their packages.

Photo (1) - Titanium Tweezers on my workbench:


It's good to have a surgical assistant who is also a model railroader in your list of friends! 

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore