I use tweezers very frequently to handle and manipulate small or delicate parts and materials. At work, I mostly use Swiss-made Dumont tweezers, which start at $25 or so. While I’m quite fond of Dumont tweezers, they are a bit pricey for irregular shop and hobby use.
Most of the tweezers I’ve found at hardware stores are large, imprecise, and have coarse teeth. A while back I bought a pair of All-Spec tweezers via one of their Ebay auctions, and I liked them so much that I ordered a couple of more with different tip styles.
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Obviously, $3 tweezers are not going to be made with the same precision, quality, and attention to detail as $25-30 ones. I’ve used cheap tweezers once before, a long time ago when I bought a 4-piece set at the local hardware store (identical to this set on Amazon), and had a terrible experience with them. The “stainless steel” tweezers all failed – three of them bent and deformed the first few times I used them, and the fourth closed once never to open again.
To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect with these tweezers. All-Spec caters more towards industrial users than hobbyists, so I was hopeful that they wouldn’t put their name on terribly made tweezers.
I have used the three pictured All-Spec and one Excelta tweezers a very many number of times. The tips are reasonably sharp, and the tweezers all appear to be well made. The tweezers have a somewhat satin finish, and the insides appear to be brushed or coarsely polished. The ones with sharper precision profiles feature additional polishing at the tips.
Are these tweezers as well-made as the higher-end ones I use on a daily basis at work? No, nor do they come close. But they don’t have to. They have proved to be well suited for casual use on small fasteners, LED leads and other through-hole components, and other small or delicate parts.
I would absolutely recommend these tweezers. Prices vary, but many are under $3. If you’re looking to try them out for yourself, I would recommend these straight fine-tip, ultra-fine point, or curved fine-point tweezers to start out.
And if you’re looking for a small step-up in quality, Wiha tweezers appear to be priced right in the middle between All-Spec and Swiss-made tweezers.
These tweezers are made in Pakistan.
Jerrick
Looks like a good value, but the $9 fee for all orders under $25 kills it.
Stuart
Ooh, forgot about that. My last All-Spec order was pretty sizable as I bought a lot of random items from my wishlist. Maybe they’ll be willing to send such a small item via first class mail with no sub-$25 fee.
They have two tweezers styles on ebay at the moment, but with $5 shipping. The first one I ordered via their ebay store was $1.02 with free shipping.
Jerrick
I’ll check out their eBay listings.
On an unrelated note, I’ve really enjoyed the reviews and content lately. Keep up the good work!
Dave
You might want the check out these:
http://s.dealextreme.com/search/weitus
They’re marked “Made in Switzerland by Regine”. The selection is limited to the basic stainless steel styles but reviews are quite positive. Regine is a famous Swiss precision tool manufacturer.
6 tweezers shipped is less then half the cost of one set of Dumonts. I’m going to try a few and see if they’re any good.
Yuri
Dave, are you satisfied with this tweezers?