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Tweezer Maintenance

Don

By Don
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Don Super WRT Addict

Don

Posted
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How do you dress up tweezers? "Practical Watch Repairing" says, "... the best way to do this is with an Arkansas slip." I assume that is a sharpening stone. Would anyone like to share how they maintain tweezers?

Thanks,

Don

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bobm12 Distinguished Member

bobm12

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I use a DMT Mini Sharp fine diamond stone (red), the portable type which is small and gets well inside the tweezers. I like to polish the tips to a mirror shine (I may move to the xtra fine to finish). But then, I don't maintain them that often since I am very careful and they are good quality. On the other hand, I used a similar stone (blue) for working on the watch stems after I cut them to size. They work fast and smooth for both tasks.

 

post-253-0-26154700-1409689127_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

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Mark Distinguished Member

Mark

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+1 for diamond sharpening plates. I have a couple and they are indispensable.

 

They will not give you a polished mirror finish but to be fair you do not need this with your tweezers IMO. When polishing you should make sure the edges of the tweezers are square and not curved inwards as this will increase the chances of parts flying away from you. The diamond plates make this task very simple.

 

http://www.eternaltools.com/stones-sharpeners/eze-lap-diamond-credit-card-sharpeners

 

post-1-0-88472100-1409694308_thumb.jpg

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bobm12 Distinguished Member

bobm12

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Excellent advise Mark. Do you find EZ Lapp better for the job than DMT?

 

I'm not very familiar from a user standpoint with the former but they look more "complete" than the DMT I'm using, i.e. they look more "surface" continuous and thinner/card-like for an easier to work with product? Durable?

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Geo Distinguished Member

Geo

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Here's the set of hones that I use on a regular basis, they are especially good for keeping a good edge on tungsten carbide and high speed steel lathe tools. Having the plastic handle built in allows you to use it like a file. The grades I use are medium, fine and super fine.

PS. They are great for dressing the ends of stems to achieve the correct length after I have snipped off the major excess.

post-124-0-83061500-1409726390.jpg

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bobm12 Distinguished Member

bobm12

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Hi frenchie, the bigger the diamonds the better...but then you would like to rent a vault! Just kidding!

 

It is the best stone you can have and its uses are plentiful just as Mark says. By the way, they can be had in different grits as shown in the pics above. Hope your b'day is soon. Once you have those you will wonder why you didn't have one before!

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Don Super WRT Addict

Don

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Here's the set of hones that I use on a regular basis, they are especially good for keeping a good edge on tungsten carbide and high speed steel lathe tools. Having the plastic handle built in allows you to use it like a file. The grades I use are medium, fine and super fine.

PS. They are great for dressing the ends of stems to achieve the correct length after I have snipped off the major excess.

 

Thaks, Geo. I've got a set in my Amazon cart right now.

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  • 1 year later...
Endeavor Distinguished Member

Endeavor

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Posted (edited)

Hello All;

 

Reading this tweezers maintenance thread I was wondering whether somebody could give me some grid-sizes, this instead of medium, fine and X-fine.

I have seen on eBay some diamond plate sharpening stones with grid size #150 on one side, grid size #600 on the other. But they come also in #400 on one side, #1000 on the other.

Grid #1000 seems to me more a polishing size. I do assume you want to leave some roughness on your tweezers tips?

 

Hope to hear.......

 

Regards: Roland.

post-1663-0-36915900-1452707074_thumb.pn

Edited by Endeavor
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bobm12 Distinguished Member

bobm12

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Hi Roland,

co**BLEEP** would be 150, medium = 400, fine = 600 and extra fine = 1000. Sometime you want a mirror finish on the tips if you are handling very delicate stuff or want the tweezers to slide under something (I don't know it happens I guess, like picking up hands...but I avoid metal to handle those), otherwise medium grit will do. Of course, this is not written in stone. Maybe we can hear from some other members' experiences on the subject.

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

 

PS. The editor doesn't recognize the "rough" equivalent of the grit, it thinks it is profanity! :D

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Endeavor Distinguished Member

Endeavor

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As always Bob, thank you for your swift reply :-)

 

Reading the grit sizes, I guess the #150 / #600 are maybe a bit too course. Best would be than #400 / #1000

The prices seem okay, only £ 3.16 ≈ $ 4.55 including postage from our Chinese friends.

The stone size seems, for tweezers, also fine to me, 10cm x 3cm x 1.2mm thick

 

Anybody some other thoughts / advise?

 

Thanks in advance:

Roland

post-1663-0-27726900-1452709111_thumb.pn

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bobm12 Distinguished Member

bobm12

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Very nice Roland, good price...would they last? I switched to DMT Dia-Sharp (continuous diamond surface) and they keep forever. I have all 4 grits so I can also work the watch stems and other stuff quickly.

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

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Endeavor Distinguished Member

Endeavor

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Whether they last, I don't know. The seller gives the following warnings:

 

Caution:
1. Do not use the knife sharpener to sharpen serrated blades
2. To avoid damaging the knife, please sharpen the knife slightly and don’t sharpen back and forth
3. Do not put the sharpener in the dishwasher or submerge in water

 

Just wonder what is meant by point 3?   Hmmm............... :huh: ?

I don't expect top quality for this price, but I also don't expect that I have to maintain my tweezers every other day. Money is an issue, so maybe worth a try?

 

Regards: Roland.

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Endeavor Distinguished Member

Endeavor

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I contacted the seller and according to him, the stone was designed for dry sharpening. If made wet, it may / will start to rust. It also seems a hard base material, not a flimsy pace of plastic, or cardboard, with a diamond coating on it.

I'll give it a try and let you know............ delivery from our Chinese friends my take a month or so, so please be patient......... "I'll be back" ;-)

 

Regards: Roland.

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bobm12 Distinguished Member

bobm12

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Yeah, I didn't think of rust. I believe you won't have that problem with the DMT or the EZE-LAP products but you'll never know since most of everything is made in China and you might be getting the same product for a much lesser price! I never wet my sharpening stones, even the ones that are supposed to be used wet. Not that I use them a lot, just the odd kitchen knife apart from the small stuff when I work on watches.

 

Please, do keep us posted on those!

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

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  • 3 weeks later...
Endeavor Distinguished Member

Endeavor

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A follow up on the Chinese eBay #400 / #1000 grit sharpening "stone", which I received today, 16 days after ordering.

 

post-1663-0-31091000-1454342496_thumb.pn

 

It's a solid rigid metal plate (1.5mm thick) with diamond coating on either side, #400 grit and #1000 grit. Did some tweezers and it went fast! I guess the diamonds are sharp.......

The size (3cm x 10cm) is very nice for in your hand palm and gives good control over delicate work. The #1000 grit gives a nice smooth finish, but if you wish for a mirror finish, a finer grit is required. I haven't found these "stones" in a finer (> #1000) grit yet.

Endurance....... time will tell, but price / quality (£3.30 incl. postage) seems very good to me, ideal for tweezers maintenance.

 

Regards: Roland.

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bobm12 Distinguished Member

bobm12

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Thank you Roland, next order I'll include some of those. I suppose that with use, the grit will "drop" a little (despite of being diamond). It usually happens regardless. So, in the end the 1000 grit will be smother.

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

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  • 4 weeks later...
Alaskamick WRT Addict

Alaskamick

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You shouldn't aim to get the inside face of the tower to be a mirror finish as you need some grip,

 

You do ne the out sides to be a mirror finish so they don't pick up bits of fluff etc.

 

Here is a link to another forum which explains about tweezer dressing but a highly respected watch maker.

 

Watch and learn.

 

 

 

 

 

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Endeavor Distinguished Member

Endeavor

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Interesting video, thanks for posting. "My" Chinese thin sharpening stones are very well suited for the way he does it, apart from that you can polish only one tip at the time, as the stone has two different grit-sizes, unlike (by the looks of it) his file.

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