Brass tweezer recommendation

[Waggy]

31 minutes ago, Knebo said:

Brass is so soft and wears so quickly that I didn't want to spend so much on Dumont or big brands...

You should consider titanium, reasonably cheap and material seems to be the best of both worlds between brass and steel, see my writeup above - just a suggestion

[Knebo]

13 minutes ago, Waggy said:

You should consider titanium, reasonably cheap and material seems to be the best of both worlds between brass and steel, see my writeup above - just a suggestion

Thanks, I read it now. I'll include a pair of titanium in my next Cousins order (won't be long ).

 

[Neverenoughwatches]

49 minutes ago, Knebo said:

I have a couple of very expensive Dumont tweezers in steel alloy, No3 and No5 for very fine tasks. But my main tweezers are cheap No3 brass ones from Cousins "Swiss style".

 https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/brass-tweezers-cousins-swiss-style

They are cheap and don't come perfect. I spend some time very regularly to dress them. Like this they work very well.

Brass is so soft and wears so quickly that I didn't want to spend so much on Dumont or big brands...

I only use brass tweezers with wide tips anything over 2mm,  any narrower than this and they bend too easily when gripping. What do we use thin narrow tweezers for ? Mostly for picking up screws, springs and  jewels , these are not things that would be noticeably easily scratched so a steel option would be an ok choice.  Unless very skillful with tweezers picking up plates, positioning bridges and cocks ,handling the balance, wheels ,setting components etc, steel could very well scratch these parts as more grip is required this is why i use brass with wide tips and also some titanium ones now that I've just dressed extra wide to about 4mm.  The titanium tweezers have a nice light feel to them and dont scratch .

[Knebo]

1 hour ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

I only use brass tweezers with wide tips anything over 2mm,  any narrower than this and they bend too easily when gripping. What do we use thin narrow tweezers for ? Mostly for picking up screws, springs and  jewels , these are not things that would be noticeably easily scratched so a steel option would be an ok choice.  Unless very skillful with tweezers picking up plates, positioning bridges and cocks ,handling the balance, wheels ,setting components etc, steel could very well scratch these parts as more grip is required this is why i use brass with wide tips and also some titanium ones now that I've just dressed extra wide to about 4mm.  The titanium tweezers have a nice light feel to them and dont scratch .

What you describe sounds perfectly reasonable. I can't disagree with anything.

I guess we come to a point where it's really about personal preference.

Personally, I use my brass tweezers dressed to about 1mm for almost everything. From plates to screws and jewels. I rarely find them bent. But I do have to dress them frequently.

Then I use thicker brass tweezers (2mm tip), e.g. for inserting the barrel arbor or sometimes for thicker springs. And No5 steel to manipulate shock settings (not grabbing, but just pushing with the 0.1mm tip). Wide and thin carbon tweezers for dials and hands (or jewel picker-uppers), respectively.  But this is all personal preference, I think.

Most approaches seem to be fair game as long as we're not scratching bridges with steel tweezers.

[Neverenoughwatches]

22 minutes ago, Knebo said:

What you describe sounds perfectly reasonable. I can't disagree with anything.

I guess we come to a point where it's really about personal preference.

Personally, I use my brass tweezers dressed to about 1mm for almost everything. From plates to screws and jewels. I rarely find them bent. But I do have to dress them frequently.

Then I use thicker brass tweezers (2mm tip), e.g. for inserting the barrel arbor or sometimes for thicker springs. And No5 steel to manipulate shock settings (not grabbing, but just pushing with the 0.1mm tip). Wide and thin carbon tweezers for dials and hands (or jewel picker-uppers), respectively.  But this is all personal preference, I think.

Most approaches seem to be fair game as long as we're not scratching bridges with steel tweezers.

Some of the basics apply to just about about everyone but yep definitely a personal choice for the finer points. What i found with handling bigger parts with narrow tweezers is that the surface grip is low and the part would often slip and move around while it was being positioned so i try to use the wider brass 2mm for as much as i can even screws to i certain size.  Titanium is definitely worth a go , i bought these a while back but have only just begun to try them out, i made the tips really wide and then use the edges for lifting screws out.

4 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Some of the basics apply to just about about everyone but yep definitely a personal choice for the finer points. What i found with handling bigger parts with narrow tweezers is that the surface grip is low and the part would often slip and move around while it was being positioned so i try to use the wider brass 2mm for as much as i can even screws to i certain size.  Titanium is definitely worth a go , i bought these a while back but have only just begun to try them out, i made the tips really wide and then use the edges for lifting screws out.

i really must be more aware of what is in my photo shot you're  all lucky i have underpants on

Edited June 11, 2024 by Neverenoughwatches

[Knebo]

2 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Some of the basics apply to just about about everyone but yep definitely a personal choice for the finer points. What i found with handling bigger parts with narrow tweezers is that the surface grip is low and the part would often slip and move around while it was being positioned so i try to use the wider brass 2mm for as much as i can even screws to i certain size.  Titanium is definitely worth a go , i bought these a while back but have only just begun to try them out, i made the tips really wide and then use the edges for lifting screws out.

i really must be more aware of what is in my photo shot you're  all lucky i have underpants on

your tweezers are more dressed than you 

[Neverenoughwatches]

3 hours ago, Knebo said:

your tweezers are more dressed than you 

Yeah well don't be zooming in to see if anythings falling out

[Knebo]

16 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Yeah well don't be zooming in to see if anythings falling out

You mean brass shavings 

[Neverenoughwatches]

24 minutes ago, Knebo said:

You mean brass shavings 

Well obviously, what else would ? I shall be more careful in future

[RichardHarris123]

2 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Well obviously, what else would ? I shall be more careful in future

I bet you collect the shavings to weigh in, being a tight Yorkshireman.  Hehe. 

[VWatchie]

On 6/11/2024 at 9:06 AM, Knebo said:

Brass is so soft and wears so quickly that I didn't want to spend so much on Dumont or big brands...

I almost always use only brass tweezers myself. I got hold of a bunch of second-hand Dumonts on eBay in good condition. After I dressed them initially, it's pretty rare I've had to dress them again. I really like them because it takes very little energy to pinch them together. It gives an improved sense of control. The only downside is that the opening is a bit too narrow.

However, I think you should be a bit careful using brass tweezers if you need to be a bit rough because the metal is soft, and brass shavings can get into the movement or somewhere you don't want them.