How to dress distorted brass tweezers

[kd8tzc]

I know we need to dress our tools, and I believe I understand how you do all of that.  But with brass being so soft, and as a new person to the hobby, I need to train myself that there are some things that I should not do with brass tweezers as they will start to get distorted (to prevent this from even being a subject or question)... but how do you dress them when they do get distorted?  I have two pictures below of my brass tweezers, and I have done my best with a sharpening stone, but as you can see, there is still a bit of a kink, or duckbill on the tips.

 

Thank you for your patience and continued help.

[Neverenoughwatches]

20 minutes ago, kd8tzc said:

I know we need to dress our tools, and I believe I understand how you do all of that.  But with brass being so soft, and as a new person to the hobby, I need to train myself that there are some things that I should not do with brass tweezers as they will start to get distorted (to prevent this from even being a subject or question)... but how do you dress them when they do get distorted?  I have two pictures below of my brass tweezers, and I have done my best with a sharpening stone, but as you can see, there is still a bit of a kink, or duckbill on the tips.

 

Thank you for your patience and continued help.

Thinly dressd tips of brass tweezers will distort extremely easy. Coupled with cheap Indian brass their use is going to very limited. Dress these back to give a bit more meat on the tips, generally you need a lighter touch with brass. Decide if you want to invest in some better quality, bronze tweezers might be a better option.  

[kd8tzc]

35 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Decide if you want to invest in some better quality, bronze tweezers might be a better option.  

I've been thinking of getting some, but they are hard to find (especially here is the US). 

36 minutes ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Dress these back to give a bit more meat on the tips

Do you mean that I should place the tips perpendicular to the stone, and flatten it, and then reshape the tips again so they are a little wider?

[haratua]

When I started on this "dangerously expensive" hobby ten years ago I had cheap brass tweezers and it was frustrating to use because it needed so much attention when all I wanted is giving attention to the watch movements. I know, I have to look after the tools and so on, but brass tweezers are just so needy (maybe because I had cheap ones).

Today I use carbon fibre tweezers instead, it is cheaper than bronze tweezers. Maybe consider giving it a try when you're in the market for a new pair of tweezers—they come in a number of sizes/shapes too.

Edited April 28, 2023 by haratua

[Jon]

4 hours ago, kd8tzc said:

I know we need to dress our tools, and I believe I understand how you do all of that.  But with brass being so soft, and as a new person to the hobby, I need to train myself that there are some things that I should not do with brass tweezers as they will start to get distorted (to prevent this from even being a subject or question)... but how do you dress them when they do get distorted?  I have two pictures below of my brass tweezers, and I have done my best with a sharpening stone, but as you can see, there is still a bit of a kink, or duckbill on the tips.

 

Thank you for your patience and continued help.

Quick question... Are these tweezers cheapo tweezers, or are they something like Bergeon, Dumont, or Horotec? Because if they are cheap, you are wasting your time trying to make something good that inherently isn't. By the looks of them, the tips look like they were never right to begin with, as they are totally different thicknesses. To be honest, I would say these aren't quality tweezers, therefore you are always going to get sub standard results, regardless what you do to them. I've been there, done that, doesn't work...

[Waggy]

6 hours ago, haratua said:

When I started on this "dangerously expensive" hobby ten years ago I had cheap brass tweezers and it was frustrating to use because it needed so much attention when all I wanted is giving attention to the watch movements. I know, I have to look after the tools and so on, but brass tweezers are just so needy (maybe because I had cheap ones).

Today I use carbon fibre tweezers instead, it is cheaper than bronze tweezers. Maybe consider giving it a try when you're in the market for a new pair of tweezers—they come in a number of sizes/shapes too.

Could you provide more information or a link to the carbon tweezers you have had good results with?

[Neverenoughwatches]

8 hours ago, kd8tzc said:

I've been thinking of getting some, but they are hard to find (especially here is the US). 

Do you mean that I should place the tips perpendicular to the stone, and flatten it, and then reshape the tips again so they are a little wider?

You will need to find a balance between their strength and what you can actually use them for once you've made them a bit thicker. Ideally you want a pair of tweezers that can cope with most tasks so you dont have to keep switching them so much while you are working. Finding a pair that you are most comfortable with and becoming accustomed to all its aspects will ultimately make them an extension of your hands .As others have said you can spend a lot of time re-dressing these cheap brass or choose a better material that will give you more working time. Watch repair is watch repair and tool making is tool making. For now practice re-shaping these will teach you that skill. Titanium is another option, lightweight, strong and non magnetic. Relatively cheap unless you buy a well known brand.

[haratua]

1 hour ago, Waggy said:

Could you provide more information or a link to the carbon tweezers you have had good results with?

Mine is made by Horotec. 
https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/carbon-fibre-tipped-horotec-swiss?code=T20979

[kd8tzc]

These brass tweezers were just cheap "Bangalore Blue Light Specials" at $4, so I know they are not that great.

I do have some nice Dumont 3C tweezers that I use 95% of the time... but when I want to make sure I don't scratch something, I use the brass ones (I would think Titanium would have the same issue as the Dumont 3C tweezers and they could scratch).

With the Carbon Fiber tweezers, how do you dress then, or don't you? 

Edited April 28, 2023 by kd8tzc

[Neverenoughwatches]

10 hours ago, haratua said:

Mine is made by Horotec. 
https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/carbon-fibre-tipped-horotec-swiss?code=T20979

Do the tips bend at all ?

6 hours ago, kd8tzc said:

These brass tweezers were just cheap "Bangalore Blue Light Specials" at $4, so I know they are not that great.

I do have some nice Dumont 3C tweezers that I use 95% of the time... but when I want to make sure I don't scratch something, I use the brass ones (I would think Titanium would have the same issue as the Dumont 3C tweezers and they could scratch).

With the Carbon Fiber tweezers, how do you dress then, or don't you? 

Ok so I've just done a scratch test with some titanium tweezers i bought from cousins six weeks ago for 7 quid. And was very surprised at the results. Using the back of some non magnetic tweezers as a scratch bed. Standard dumont antimag tweezers scratched the test bed very easily, brass scratched a faint dull brass colour  ( removed brass from the tweezers ) and titanium a faint dull scratch. Nothing like the marring obtained from the dumont tweezer.  So i give cousins cheap titanium tweezers a big , wish I'd bought the set of 3 now for 12 quid .

6 hours ago, kd8tzc said:

These brass tweezers were just cheap "Bangalore Blue Light Specials" at $4, so I know they are not that great.

I do have some nice Dumont 3C tweezers that I use 95% of the time... but when I want to make sure I don't scratch something, I use the brass ones (I would think Titanium would have the same issue as the Dumont 3C tweezers and they could scratch).

With the Carbon Fiber tweezers, how do you dress then, or don't you? 

So after some heavy dressing back of the titanium tweezers which i now really like as the tension on them is perfect and they dont scratch. I now have a new set of tit tweezers which is a fair representation of the bloke that will be using them .

 

Edited April 28, 2023 by Neverenoughwatches

[kd8tzc]

I finally picked up a pair of decent bronze tweezers from CasKer for $39.95... they say Swiss Made and ASCO on it.... not sure who that is.  They feel and look really good... very much different than the cheap Indian brass ones I had.