# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Aquascaping / Trimming tools



## jake (May 25, 2004)

No matter how much I google, find medical supply sites, and check ebay and other auction sites, it seems as though I will never be able to find a pair of stainless steel scissors and tweezers 18" or longer. 

All the commercial aquascaping kits are like 11" and that doesn't go very far with me. Maybe in a ten gallon or 20L, but seriously, on your larger tanks with large canopies, etc, I'd be snorkling trying to use those short of tools. 

What I need is an 18" or longer pair of stainless steel tweezers and scissors, the scissors being sharp tipped and turned up at the tip. Does anyone know a specific store that sells such an item? 

Thanks in advance.


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## jake (May 25, 2004)

No matter how much I google, find medical supply sites, and check ebay and other auction sites, it seems as though I will never be able to find a pair of stainless steel scissors and tweezers 18" or longer. 

All the commercial aquascaping kits are like 11" and that doesn't go very far with me. Maybe in a ten gallon or 20L, but seriously, on your larger tanks with large canopies, etc, I'd be snorkling trying to use those short of tools. 

What I need is an 18" or longer pair of stainless steel tweezers and scissors, the scissors being sharp tipped and turned up at the tip. Does anyone know a specific store that sells such an item? 

Thanks in advance.


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

I've yet to find anyplace that sell 18" long scissors, but I have found 16" hemostats at Harbor Freight and Tools. They don't seem to have them listed online, but here are the store locations in NC.

CHARLOTTE,NC 3852 E INDEPENDENCE BLVD 704-569-0182 
FAYETTEVILLE,NC 1330 CLINTON RD. 910-484-2180 
GREENSBORO,NC 3709 FARMINGTON DRIVE 336-834-2234 
RALEIGH,NC 3302 CAPITAL BLVD. 919-876-2023


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## jake (May 25, 2004)

Thanks. I had found 18" hemostats online some time ago. If they don't have some long(er) scissors, maybe they can tell me who does. I'll give them a call tomorrow. Thanks


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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

Good thing if your family members are doctors and/or surgeons. You can always ask them for scissors and tweezers. Nothing beats surgical-grade equipments. I love my small tweezers given to me by my sister. Ever since I started using it to plant the grass and glossos and pearlgrass, they have all been doing really well and not floating back to the surface.


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Well, I'd sure hate to be on the table for a procedure that required the doctor to use 18" long scissors!


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## jake (May 25, 2004)

Yeah, very true, lol. That would be a bit scary.

I went to harbor freight today and that particular store had nothing that I wanted. It had some 5" long pakistan steel hemostats and such, some barber scissors, etc. Wife is going to a nicer, larger one in about a month or so, so we'll see then I guess.


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## jake (May 25, 2004)

On a side note, I did find some 18" and 24" tweezers on http://www.tongs.com/shop/index.php?GrID=43&PrID=41 . Just thought I'd pass it along as I find interesting stuff on my quest here.


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Finding large scissors is difficult since there really isn't an industry that uses them, so they'll all be niche tools for people like us.

ADG is selling the AGA scissors, but for $113! I ended up ordering the tool kit that Roberts sells here. I also have a Hagen 24" long grabber/cutter that works at keeping my hands dry. The grabber tool has worked well enough for me to even plant glosso with, but the scissors tool is really crude. So I usually end up using the one from Robert's kit, or a pair of 5" surgical scissors.


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## Momotaro (Feb 17, 2004)

Those long spring forceps (tweezers) at www.tongs.com are a little pricey. Keep an eye peeled for tongs are your local hardware store. They usually carry them as 'impulse items" by the check out.

I am not sure the $110 ADG is selling the ADA scissors for is a bad deal. First of all, you are correct, they are a specialty item. Secondly, if the scissors are manufactured of a fairly decent grade of stainless steel and of a good quality of manufacture, the scissors are fairly priced. I ordered a pair of 5 1/2" blunt/sharp dissection scissors for $56 a pair. I haven't received them yet, but if they are anything less than German stainless quality, they are going back. Only alternative will be $180 pair!

Cheap stainless steel instruments is my absolute pet peeve. It has become almost impossible to buy good, not even high quality stainless steel in the US today!

Mike


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Yeah, the ADA scissors are probably not over-priced but expensive none the less. I really need to make friends in the metal-working trade and have someone weld on some 12" extension handles to a pair of 5" scissors.

Hmmm, I wonder if some machinable epoxy putty and stainless steel rods can be fashioned into handle extensions...









Well, in the end, precision pruning can really only be done by getting your hands/arms wet so my 5" scissors suit me fine. And since I got them for less that $15 as part of a Army surplus field surgery kit I can't complain.


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## Momotaro (Feb 17, 2004)

I have a question.

Those of you who are using hemostats, what kind of hemostats are you actually using? Locking?


Mike


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Momotaro:
> I have a question.
> ...


Locking. I think hemostats are always locking. Otherwise they're forceps.


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## jake (May 25, 2004)

I got my 24" tweezers in the other day. At $30 I definitely did not overpay for them. I have never seen anything remotely close to these at any sort of hardware store, ever. I should have probably been more specific in the ones I was talking about : http://www.tongs.com/shop/index.php?GrID=43 , the ones on top. They are exactly like a small pair of tweezers only 2 feet long. They weigh about 13 oz. A few days later and I don't know what I did before them.

I could never use my 18" hemostats for much planting because I would always end up locking them accidentally at the worst time.

As far as the scissors go, i'm not looking for stainless steel something that stands up to thousands of autoclaves, just something that stays sharp and doesn't break or rust. I don't need it to be $110 top notch, just something that isn't a piece of total junk and is long enough where I can reach the bottom of standard 75 gallon tank, with canopy, without having half of my arm in the water. I have plastic tongs with the cutter attachment you can put on there, but the are a joke.. you can hardly discern one stem from another with the things and I'd probably get a cleaner cut using two bricks.


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

I'm the opposite. I like the hemostats because the finger holes give me better control over the long reach. For tweezers I have a pair of 12" ones that I use if a stem is being particularly difficult to get planted.

Long reach scissors have eluded me. Doesn't seem like there's a market for anything longer than the ADA ones or is in the tool kit that Robert sells here. It sounds like you have the Hagen pincher/scissors tool like I do. It's okay for clipping bigger stems, but anything that needs precision means I get wet up to my elbow. I just make sure I have a towel on hand.


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## Momotaro (Feb 17, 2004)

I don't know how you use locking forceps!

Mike


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

Just takes a light touch. It harder on really fine stems since you need to pinch a little closer to the clamp teeth, but typically if you're engaging the clamp you're crushing the stem.


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## Momotaro (Feb 17, 2004)

Locking forceps are a nuisance, in my opinion!









Mike


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

You could always take a Dremel tool with a cutting disk to it. Instant forceps!


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Mine are 11" stainless steel. good luck finding any much longer than that!


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

buy the 11" kit, then get some 7" gloves


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## bharada (Apr 17, 2004)

I bought a pair of the CoraLife full arm gloves but the fingers are too big to fit in the scissors holes!


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## imported_Creature (Feb 6, 2003)

I just wanted to add a new use for my 12" tweezers of the straight, not hooked variety. I cut a piece off my scrubber pad and pinched it with the tweezers and with a slight twist of the hand, pressed the scrubber piece against the inside pane of the aquarium, I could run it along the length of the substrate line and get into hard to get corners without getting my arm all the way up wet and with minimal disruption of the substrate.


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