I have been using these Prestige medical-style shears for about 18 months now. When I bought them, it was sort of a gamble, as I knew nothing of the brand, but I’ve been pleased with how well they’ve held up.
These shears are probably more featured than I need. I haven’t really made use of the non-stick coating, nor do I have the need or means to autoclave them.
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I moved these scissors to the kitchen tool drawer a few months ago, ever since my wife presented me with an older pair of office scissors that broke in half. I think she was cutting plastic clamshell packaging, or something of the sort, and they broke my paper scissors. These scissors should hold up a lot better to general around-the-house usage.
See Also: 5 Reasons to Buy Medical-Style Shears
To be honest, I had half expected to find something about these shears to complain about. I mean, for under $10, how good could they be? But that is a rather unfair way to look at things.
I’m sure that if I used them on sheet metal, or to cut Kevlar fiber, or something to that effect, I’d ruin them pretty quickly.
I’ve been using these shears for cutting off clothing tags, quickly opening plastic packaging, and for every other manner of everyday household use. They work better than office scissors, thanks to the serrations that help to grip whatever’s being cut, and I do like the blunted tips.
If I know I’ll need the scissors for a few things, I don’t mind slipping them into a pocket. That’s something you cannot really do with regular pointy scissors.
I’ll update this post if a handle falls off, the blades bend, or the pivot break, but I really don’t see that happening.
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I still very much love my mini Engineer scissors, and tend to use them more for higher precision tasks and whenever I want to stash near-full-size scissors in a compact tool bag or tool box. My Midwest Knifti-Cut general purpose snips are built a little stronger and will always have a place in my tool box as well.
Milwaukee’s offset scissors, with its serrated lower blade, are also great all-around scissors.
Russ
I also like Coghlan’s 9575 12-In-1 Scissors available at Amazon.
Dennis
I kept a pair of pair of those shears in the diaper bag when my kids were that age. Because every once in a while you get a mess where it’s just easier to sacrifice the outfit than try extricate the kid through it.
fred
My Clauss 18053 that you posted about before are still working – and gets occasional use. I think I paid about $6 for them – but they sell for about $8 at Home Depot.
My wife used to carry the Leatherman Raptor – which has a batch of other gizmos and costs a heck of a lot more – not sure if its worth the price.
Robert
I was a paramedic in the 80’s. I had a pair of these back then and they’ve changed little if any ever since. They are actually capable of cutting a penny in half. Before the dedicated seatbelt cutters of today, these were standard equipment for rescue, cutting cloth bandages, and a host of other uses.
A lot of the tools that are incorporated on many “rescue” tools today were all dedicated tools then. I used a spring loaded center punch for breaking auto glass, (very effective,) and a simple oxygen wrench that could be pocket carried.
Although the Leatherman Raptor incorporates more than one tool, I can’t imagine that the scissors work any more effectively than these. I’d recommend saving the money on the Raptor and going with these. I was never sorry or disappointed with mine. For 10 bucks, you can’t go wrong.
Wayne Ruffner
Nothing against these, but there’s a lot still to be said for the old/old style Clauss & Wiss forged scissors & shears. The finest of American & German industrial craftsmanship.
If you can’t find them in flea markets and estate sales, they show up on eBay a lot too under “Industrial Shears” or “Industrial Scissors”. A lot are still being made for industry too.
Nate 818
This is my favorite harbor freight item
http://www.harborfreight.com/14-in-scissors-62506.html
Very useful for pipe insulation and flex duct amongst other various nasty thin walled insulation products.
You can also threaten to cut the braided poney tail of the job site hippie.
Pete
Thanks i need get a new pair of these penny shears. I have worn my current pair our cutting jean for a jean blanket my wife made my daughter. After wearing them out i splurged and bought my wife some wiss ‘shop shears’ with “X8 cutting power” and my wife loves them. You never know how poorly cheap scissors cut till use some quality ones.