Planting Tweezers / Pinsette for fine roots and plants

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/16/2022 at 2:46 PM, Pepere said:

Well,  it is entirely possible I have no idea what auality aquascape tools are like and the ones I have are rubbish….  But I have not perceived any shortcomings with them… and the price was certainly right….

I have no problems planting or trimming plants with them, and havent once thought “I need something better.”…..

 

to my mind, for the price they are worth trying…

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RNMDLM2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is the kit I have. Planting small stems is a 2 hand job: a tweezer for each hand. The first plants in and the second pins down the area while the first tweezer is removed from the substrate. Otherwise the plant floats up and out of the medium.

[nabokovfan87]

@Fish Folk Here's the adjustment. 

I'll have to whip these bad boys out next time I can plant something and see how I do.

Original:

After:

[PerceptivePesce]

I just invented the solution to this problem. It's sheer brilliance! It works extremely well at gripping hair algea and removing it from plants. 

It's that super soft air tubing slipped over the tips of my tweezers. The grip is strong.

You're welcome, internet.

Now take this knowledge and fly! Spread it to all!

[Ninjoma]

On 5/5/2023 at 8:09 PM, PerceptivePesce said:

I just invented the solution to this problem. It's sheer brilliance! It works extremely well at gripping hair algea and removing it from plants. 

It's that super soft air tubing slipped over the tips of my tweezers. The grip is strong.

You're welcome, internet.

Now take this knowledge and fly! Spread it to all!

Wait, do the tweezers still open far enough to grab stuff with the tubing over the tip? Or do you have to grab something, then slip the tubing over the tip?

[PerceptivePesce]

Yes to the first question.  No to the second.

You grasp the algae, or whatever, between the tubing that is slipped over the tips of the tweezer. I hope that makes sense, I'll continue to clarify if you ask 🙂

@Ninjomasorry, I should have quoted you

[Odd Duck]

On 5/5/2023 at 10:18 PM, Ninjoma said:

Wait, do the tweezers still open far enough to grab stuff with the tubing over the tip? Or do you have to grab something, then slip the tubing over the tip?

That would depend on the tweezers.  Most of the long tweezers will open plenty wide enough to add the silicone airline pieces, but some won’t.  You’ll just have to try it with yours.  You only need about 1-1.5” of tubing on each tip if you want to try it.  The silicone is a bit sticky in comparison to the metal of the tongs.

Personally, I like my well worn Brown-Adson forceps for very small plants but they aren’t very long so it’s full arm in the tank sometimes.  My very long planting tweezers I use only on bigger plants in deeper tanks.  I have some smaller ones for shorter tanks.  I’m only ever planting in sand, so I don’t know how well any of these would do in gravel.  I haven’t tried to plant in gravel in years.

[PerceptivePesce]

On 5/12/2023 at 6:41 PM, Odd Duck said:

That would depend on the tweezers.  Most of the long tweezers will open plenty wide enough to add the silicone airline pieces, but some won’t.  

I didn't know some tweezers wouldn't open up wide enough, and I'm having trouble imagining them.  Got a brand name?  I wanna check this out so I can wrap my head around it.

[Odd Duck]

On 5/13/2023 at 4:10 PM, PerceptivePesce said:

I didn't know some tweezers wouldn't open up wide enough, and I'm having trouble imagining them.  Got a brand name?  I wanna check this out so I can wrap my head around it.

I don’t have a brand name for you.  My extra long tweezers are cheapos I got from Amazon.  I’m sure there are some tweezers that aren’t made to open very wide.  Often those with more delicate points won’t be made to open as wide since it’s likely assumed they will be used on more delicate, finer textured plants.  I have my worn out surgical forceps but cheap Brown-Adson (style, not brand) can be bought easily from Amazon or any medical supply place.

Some very cheaply made surgical instruments won’t have quite appropriate shapes or won’t meet well in the jaw of the instrument.  I’m sure the same happens with planting forceps, especially low cost ones.  Cheap ones are often made with less hard steel and can often be bent to a better shape that suits your needs better.  Larger and longer forceps will often have a wider jaw since smaller, finer ones are made for manipulating smaller, finer materials.

I know there are some other companies have some very expensive, fine tipped planting forceps but I don’t know how wide their jaws open since I haven’t seen them in person.

[Milliardo Peacecraft]

On 11/16/2022 at 1:46 PM, Pepere said:

Well,  it is entirely possible I have no idea what auality aquascape tools are like and the ones I have are rubbish….  But I have not perceived any shortcomings with them… and the price was certainly right….

I have no problems planting or trimming plants with them, and havent once thought “I need something better.”…..

 

to my mind, for the price they are worth trying…

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RNMDLM2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have these same ones and they have worked fine for me as well.

[nabokovfan87]

A bit of an update / final thoughts on all of this. 

I've been trying to use the fluvals for a while now and I'm still not happy with the situation. The spring tension on them, the metal selection, a lot of the more affordable pinsettes are so flexible that they deflect on themselves a bit too easily.  Let me explain....



When you have the cross section of the tweezers and you have certain shapes they will behave differently when the end of the tweezers touch and apply force to one another.  Think of it like trying to take two dry spaghetti noodles as your pinsettes and what "shape" would be optimal. 

The common layout I've seen is on the left with a more rectangular profile.  This leads to deflection because there is nearly no restriction on the metal.  the metal will deflect as hard as you push it.  At the end of the tines you might have a more circular shape like you see on the right, but the actual arms of the pinsettes themselves are rectangular.  There is no "backbone" so to speak.  Triangles lead to strength that is why on a lot of structural designs you will see triangles.

So if someone was ever to make a more rigid design on a pinsette it would have that middle profile.  Realistically you would use something with a more finished feel to the user, which is the shape on the right.

Some examples:

Fluval:


Cheap amazon ones:


High end ones:  (profile is still rectangular on these)



Once you get to ADA I think these have a bit of a rounded profile to them, it's very hard to tell though.  The upper section is that normal flat spring / rectangular profile.

 

I'm not sure what to do with the information, but ultimately, that's where it's lead me trying to find some hand tools I can work well with.
 

[Odd Duck]

Planting pinsettes aren’t made to have much pressure on them since you would be crushing the plants.  If you are using them for something else that needs more pressure, then you risk damaging them by using them for a job they aren’t designed to do.  Kind of like trying to use a small flat blade screwdriver in a Phillips head screw.  Yep, been there, done that out of desperation for lack of the right tool.  It’s how I know how it turns out.

If the cheap tweezers aren’t working, then you may be asking them to do something they aren’t designed to do.  I prefer to reach my arm into the tank for bigger plants as long as it’s a spot I can reach.  My fingers have a better feel for bigger plants.  I use my little Brown-Adson’s for small plants since my fingers are big a bulky compared to them plus by this time they’re a natural extension of my hand after decades of using this style for surgery.  They have better grip with less pressure and less disturbance to the substrate when trying put in small stuff.  I do like my between planting tweezers for my smallest 2 G tank because my hand displaces too much water.  My betweens are just long enough to reach the bottom without being giant sized compared to my extra longs.

I freely admit that I don’t use my extra longs as much for planting now as I do for grabbing small bits of debris, moving small pieces of wood or rocks with epiphytes on them, etc, especially if I don’t happen to want to get my entire arm wet with a small tidy up.  But I do often use them for in-between depth tanks if planting in the tank or gluing in the tank.

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/17/2023 at 2:52 PM, Odd Duck said:

Planting pinsettes aren’t made to have much pressure on them since you would be crushing the plants.  If you are using them for something else that needs more pressure, then you risk damaging them by using them for a job they aren’t designed to do.  Kind of like trying to use a small flat blade screwdriver in a Phillips head screw.  Yep, been there, done that out of desperation for lack of the right tool.  It’s how I know how it turns out.

If the cheap tweezers aren’t working, then you may be asking them to do something they aren’t designed to do.  I prefer to reach my arm into the tank for bigger plants as long as it’s a spot I can reach.  My fingers have a better feel for bigger plants.  I use my little Brown-Adson’s for small plants since my fingers are big a bulky compared to them plus by this time they’re a natural extension of my hand after decades of using this style for surgery.  They have better grip with less pressure and less disturbance to the substrate when trying put in small stuff.  I do like my between planting tweezers for my smallest 2 G tank because my hand displaces too much water.  My betweens are just long enough to reach the bottom without being giant sized compared to my extra longs.

Agreed!

I think what in finding is that the flex of the material and the movement when trying to close the jaws ends up with mine often in a V shape as opposed to II which just means it's not holding the plants. It's not that I'm trying to have too much pressure or misusing them.  I pretty much only use mine for plants or holding in frozen food at the surface.

I noticed it (in my testing so to speak) that there is a lot of play or movement and it's akin to using something that you think is as straight as an arrow, but it's curved and not true.  That sense of going to take your glasses off and they aren't there. I am holding the plant, go to plant, plant in place, plant floats away. It happens far more than I would think it should. I look at the teeth and it's that V shape. Try to straighten things out or fix things and that's when I go back to the material being too easy to deflect or something.

It is what is it, and honestly it might just be the way these things are. I have been eyeballing shorter ones, maybe that is the fix.

[Odd Duck]

On 8/18/2023 at 3:15 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Agreed!

I think what in finding is that the flex of the material and the movement when trying to close the jaws ends up with mine often in a V shape as opposed to II which just means it's not holding the plants. It's not that I'm trying to have too much pressure or misusing them.  I pretty much only use mine for plants or holding in frozen food at the surface.

I noticed it (in my testing so to speak) that there is a lot of play or movement and it's akin to using something that you think is as straight as an arrow, but it's curved and not true.  That sense of going to take your glasses off and they aren't there. I am holding the plant, go to plant, plant in place, plant floats away. It happens far more than I would think it should. I look at the teeth and it's that V shape. Try to straighten things out or fix things and that's when I go back to the material being too easy to deflect or something.

It is what is it, and honestly it might just be the way these things are. I have been eyeballing shorter ones, maybe that is the fix.

Are you putting the plants right at the tips?  Tweezers are made to be used right at the tips (or at least they’re supposed to be made that way).  That’s where your best grip should be and where they should meet the best.  If you’re squeezing enough under normal use that the tweezers are not meeting at the tip, then they are extremely poorly made or you’re being brutish, and I don’t think you’re being brutish.  You may have just gotten a bad pair.

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/18/2023 at 8:12 PM, Odd Duck said:

You may have just gotten a bad pair.

my co-op ones I broke just being a bit weird.  I went to rest them on the edge of a specimen container and the weld opened up.  They work fine, just held together with a rubber band.  My Fluval ones, like I said, I honestly just think it's a material thing.  Trying to use them without the rubber tips means they need to be precise, these arent at all.  One side is slightly longer than the other.  They just make a V because of how they were designed.  Really weird.  I just need to find a proper pair.  I have "gone through the motions" with all of these to just try to really understand if it's me or the tool.  So far I just need to find something with materials I prefer that hold up the way I think they should.  I have been eyeing the UNS / Aquavitro ones, but I need to sell some shrimp first.

This is how I hold the plant.

[Odd Duck]

On 8/18/2023 at 11:57 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

One side is slightly longer than the other. 

Tweezers should always at least meet at the tip.  I would be extremely disappointed if they didn’t.  When they are made, the length is cut, each side is shaped, the gripping surface is created on the inside of the tips, then any finger grip texture is added, then they are joined/welded together.  Once joined, the outer shape is refined and the tips shaped to match.  Sounds like some steps were skipped in the manufacturing process.  If you paid good money for them (anything over $5.00 - $10.00), I would complain to the company and ask for a replacement pair.

Your grip placement looks perfectly appropriate within the tips.  I might grip closer to the tip of the root, but that isn’t anything to do with the the actual tweezer grip.  I do plant individually, not clumps of plants myself.

Edited August 20, 2023 by Odd Duck
Typo

[HelplessNewbie]

Anyone have issues with rust on their tweezers?

I have cheap ones and wondered if I can apply clear nail polish to protect them, after scraping the rust off.

I admit I am not consistent at wiping the tools off, because I never know when I am done. I always see something I want to mess with.

[nabokovfan87]

On 9/9/2023 at 2:07 PM, HelplessNewbie said:

Anyone have issues with rust on their tweezers?

It can be pretty common, yes.  I am not sure about the polish though.

[Odd Duck]

None of mine actively rust, but I have towels or paper towels close to all my tanks so I wipe after each project.  Not after each dunk, but after finishing what I was doing, I wipe dry before I set them down.  I might use them again 15 minutes later, but they get wiped again before they get set down after each little project.  If I’m doing a big project, they get wiped at the end of the project, or if I break for lunch, etc.  I have one pair of scissors that are clearly pretty cheap scissors, that were in a bunch of scissors I got used.  They came with some rust which caused some tiny pits.  I’ve used some fine steel wool and worked the rust off mostly (wasn’t on the blades) but I really have to stay on top of them and they get dried before they get set down.  I’d have to do some grinding to fully remove the deepest rust pits, so I haven’t bothered to spend that much time on those other than to keep them dry.

If your instruments have rust pits, you either have to sand or polish them completely away, or dry them every time before you set them down and make sure they aren’t laying in water, on a constantly wet towel, or getting dripped on, etc.  If you get rust every time even if dried every time, then they aren’t even mediocre quality stainless steel.  Good quality stainless steel can sit in water for hours on end without an issue.  Being fully submerged causes less rust than sitting in the air but wet.  Or partially exposed, they’ll rust right at the water line.  Rust is oxygen and iron after all, so fully underwater the iron has far less oxygen available to form rust.