back to precision

flush cutters:


I've gone through several flush cutters in recent years. The last set I got was what I thought was a good quality
Wiha, but it sprung in pretty short order, despite my being careful with it. So it's in the General Tools
drawer now, and has been replaced with what I hope is a higher quality tool. While shopping, I narrowed
down my list of cutters to three that looked about identical but were priced at about $30, $60, and $230.
It's amazing the price difference you can find when shopping for precision flush cutters, so spend some time
looking around before you make your purchase.

Also pay attention to the cutter to make sure it's flush, and also decide if you want the cut to go all the
way into the jaw, because the edge on some stops 1-2mm from the inside of the jaw. As with precision tweezers,
you don't want the spring action on your small cutters to be very strong or you'll lose the feel you need
to make sure you're not squeezing too hard, and risk springing the jaws.

Due to how often I use this tool, I ended up buying two of them - a cheaper one for more general use, and
a more expensive one for when I really needed a good quality cut. This is the only one I can use to trim
very fine stranded wire with and be assured it will cut every strand, as cleanly as a scissors. The less
expensive CHP-170 was recommended to me as a good prevision value-priced flush cutter, and so far its been
working very well. It struggles to cut 100% of very fine wire strands on the first try, but I'm less worried
about damaging it if I happen across an unexpectedly hard material when flush-cutting on a board.


CHP-170 ($10 at Amazon)

Weller 622NB flush cutter ($60 at Amazon)


CHP-170:


Weller 622NB:



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last updated 08/04/2023 at 06:21:36