tweezers

[Robert Lambie Robert Lambie]

sorry kev i dont use them i use a stanley knife to weed, and im fast as as as fast as anything! 😉

anyway i used to use a pair, great pair infact. nice point to the end of thenm and great to hold… “am i still talking tweezers here? 😕 ” anyway i bought them from a chemist im sure. surgical tweezers… not cheap though about £14 but that was years ago…
sorry i cant be more help mate.

[signscript]

these were surgical tweezers rob… my mum is a practice nurse and they came free from one of her drug reps…. the other tweezers i have are surgical ones aswell, but pretty naff! i do use scalpels most of the time but depending on the type of weeding that needs doing i like to have my twezers handy

[Mike Brown]

Same boat as you Kevin…well, almost!

Have a few pairs of tweezers and they’re all horrid too! – except one!

one old pair that must be five years old. my wife, Clare, loves ’em and has put a bit of glitsy pink vinyl around them to ear-mark them…lol

she knows I won’t use anything with a pink thing on it so I am relegated to using another pair that are about as useful as a teaspoon!

I don’t know how much longer they will last?… 😕

more soon

mikethesign

[signscript]

aaahhh … weeding with a teaspoon … never tried that….

[Robert Lambie Robert Lambie]

its actualy quite handy kev… have way through weeding you just lean over stir the tea have a drink and away you go again…
now the problem starts when you weed with your fork. its good at first , but just after lunch time you end up with bits of chips and grease etc all over the vinyl… takes ages to clean off… oh and the sauce!!!! kidding guys kidding! 😆

[Rosemary]

Wow! I’ve never heard of using tweezers! We’re illustrators here, so we shape a number 11 Exacto blade with a small radius turn at the tip. That way we can spin the blade as we cut the film. We still do freehand illustrating in the films as we did before computers came along. That tip is perfect for stripping/weeding.
Dad used to do his lettering right on the surface of trucks and signs. He’d just lay the sheet of film and begin using the blade as he would a brush, illustrating and lettering as he went. He’d strip away the excess film and, presto!! A finished sign! It was a pleasant change from painting back then.
My brother is very good at that method too. I do ok, but I’m slower at it.
I’ve actually seen Dad demonstrate his blade technique when asked, “Aren’t you cutting the paint on this truck?” I saw him do this one day on a showroom floor some 20 years ago. He was cutting roses over the door handles on a beautiful new Caddilac. This guy kept commenting to his wife on everything Dad was doing, sort of whispering, but just loud enough. He said, “If we pulled all that stuff off, you’d see all the cut marks in the paint”.
Dad stopped, got out a 3′ length of 6″ film and laid it right down the hood (bonnet?? heh) of that car and very quickly made a slit right down the center. The guy’s wife gasped, and Dad stripped away one half, then the other and went right back to work on the door handles without saying a word. The guy and his wife, and a few others standing around, all looked closely at the hood and couldn’t find a single mark.
THis is why we shape our #11 Exactos with that small radius in the tip. Complete control, but you must be careful not to sharpen it TOO sharp. Just the right amount to cut the film with control. If its too sharp, the blade will “pull down” into the film as you cut. It should ride on the surface of the film, easily cutting to the adhesive with a small amount of pressure.
If you draw the blade across your thumbnail you can feel the difference.
If it makes a white line and seems to draw itself into your fingernail, its too sharp. It should make a thin, white line with no resistance. No line? It s not sharp enough.

:^)

[Robert Lambie Robert Lambie]

very interesting rosemary… ive never heard of such a tool… sounds good!

can you buy these tools? do you have a picture of one by any chance?

would be good to see!

[Rosemary]

We make them ourselves from a #11 xacto blade. I’ll email a drawing in a bit.

:^)