Tweezers..

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Can anyone recommend a source of reliable, competent tweezers – mostly for the extraction of splinters etc.

I’d like a pair with rounded tips that meet at the very periphery and will grip on the merest stub poking out of the flesh!

TIA..

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

the only way I have found to make tweezers meet at the tip is to tune them yourself, put a slight bend in the arms then then rub folded wet and dry in between whilst gently squeezing. IMHO most tweezers are too soft and bendy some of my best ones are pre war!!!

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I find my digi callipers quite good for gripping metal splinters.

[Andrew CrowParticipant @andrewcrow91475]

I usually make my own from broken/ worn out HSS hacksaw blades, use the ends with the holes in bolt together with a spcer between and grind to whatever shape you want.

Andy

[Andrew CrowParticipant @andrewcrow91475]

 

Not sure this will work, inserting photos is not my thing😅

 

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Bernard – yes, quite so – my treasured 1930’s ones are now presumed lost forever – haven’t seen them since the last move..

Jason, yes me too, but this is a ‘raw’ splinter of seasoned Ash and they never come out as easily as they go in – it’s right in the ball of my right thumb tip, too..

Andy Crow, that’s a fine idea – thanks very much, and especially for taking the trouble to upload the picture!

Pulling stuff out of fingers and thumbs is a regular occupation..

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

Swiss Army knife tweezers work well. If you use a loupe you can see what you are doing. A scalpel blade helps. Just use the very tip of a pointed blade to just raise the splinter above to surface enough to get a grip on it. You only need to excise the very outer surface of the skin. You don’t need to go deep.

 

[Diogenes]

On Diogenes Said:

Pulling stuff out of fingers and thumbs is a regular occupation..

Unfortunately how ever good the tweezers are the splinter doesn’t always come out. I had a milling splinter go into the ball of my thumb, pulled it out I thought but a 10mm long piece had broken off and stayed inside. Fortunately about six weeks later it came out of the tip of my thumb a few days before I was due to go for a minor operation to remove it.

Andy.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

Long ago I bought my dad a pair of tweezers from an ME show that had a magnifier and small light attached, he found it invaluable for this job.  I’n not sure what happened to it when he passed away though I inherited most of his workshop.

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Agree that swarf can be a b****r, especially if you are lucky enough to drive into the ‘inside’ of a finger joint-line  – where it seems to work itself further in, rather than back out; but work seems to present far more frequent opportunities to be speared by bits of nature.

Ash splinters are really horrible, fibrous, and like Bamboo have to be pulled out ‘against their will’ if you like..

When I was a very young man I had a short job that included tending a ‘Cactus House’ and experiences there convinced me that Opuntia is probably the King of Misery..

[Alan CharlestonParticipant @alancharleston78882]

Hi Diogenes,

I used to work in a fibreglass factory and would quite often get fibres embedded in my hand. I found the most effective way of getting them out was to get a scalpel positioned at 90 degrees to my hand and drag it across the embedded fibre. You may need to do it a few times. Press firmly but not too hard and ensure you only drag across the blade – not along it. Works for metal splinters as well. I suppose a razor blade would work as well.

Regards,

Alan C.

[DiogenesParticipant @diogenes]

Take a bow, Alan.. ..got it with my work knife – and yes it is, very..

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

+1 for Alan’s tip – I use a scalpel, the sharper the better !

Bob

[Gary WoodingParticipant @garywooding25363]

I’ve found that the sharp, angled, points of medical syringes work exceedingly well. They are sharp enough to allow  them to ‘scoop up’ tiny splinters that tweezers fail to extract.

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