Nippers

[Hannah118 0]

I am looking to get a new pair of nippers (the $7 pair I have now do not work well) and was wondering what brands or type was best? I am hoping to avoid paying more than $50. I would love something that will last a few years.

 

Thanks

[Bryon Anderson 0]

A few years back, when the first pair of nippers that cost $20 came out, I was dumbfounded at the idea that anyone would pay that much for such a simple tool. Fast-forward to yesterday, when I received in the mail a fly fishing catalog that offers a pair for $100. So...apparently I was wrong. Not the first time, and surely not the last.

 

It's your money and you can obviously spend it however you like, and it's nobody's business but yours how you do that, but, since you asked, I'll give you my two cents' worth. I've been fly fishing for about 20 years. When I need a new pair of nippers, I generally buy the cheap ones--usually they're the ones sitting in a big fishbowl on the fly shop counter for around $5-6. They typically last me a couple of years, and I usually lose them before they get too dull to use. When that happens,I just buy another pair. At that price, I'm getting about 15-20 years of service for every $50-60 spent on the tool, which is more than an acceptable return on investment in my book. Even if the $20 (or $50, or $100) kind would last me 15-20 years (which I highly doubt), they're just as easy to lose as the cheap ones. For those reasons alone, I cannot think of a single practical reason to buy expensive nippers.

 

I'll throw this in, just as food for thought -- the sharpest, cleanest-cutting, longest-lasting "nipper" I've ever used was a $3 fingernail clipper from the drugstore. Yes, you have to unfold and re-fold the little lever every time, but that doesn't bother me. In my opinion, it's the lever action that makes them cut so well, anyway.

 

Others will probably disagree with me, but that's nothing new, either.

 

Cheers,

Bryon

[mikechell 0]

I got this ...

from Cabela's for $9.00 (the ones without the light).

 

So far, I really like them.

[Jaydub 0]

These are what I use http://www.orvis.com/p/orvis-fly-fishers-snip/1258

 

In the past I have purchased some of those out of a bowl at the fly shop that didn't work worth a darn.

 

Recently I picked up some Loon brand nippers at Sierra Trading Post for $20. They have replaceable blades, although I haven't seen the blades for sale. They seem nice, but are heavy and I'm not sure they really work any better than the Orvis ones.

[Bryon Anderson 0]

I've been pretty lucky with the fly shop fish bowl cheapies -- some work better than others, of course, but I've only had one pair flat-out fail (they broke in half when I tried to cut some 25# mono). I always carry the fingernail clippers in a pocket as a back-up.

 

The one pair of semi-expensive nippers I ever bought were from Orvis--the ones with the ceramic blades that they came out with some years back. I think I paid maybe $15 or $16 for them, and they were complete junk. Didn't cut worth a darn, and the "blades" were visibly chipped and cracked after the first day of use. I know, I know; ceramic blades, what did I expect...still, that experience went a long way toward convincing me that "more expensive" doesn't always mean "better."

[bellevue.chartreuse.trout 0]

...

[heavynets 0]

They can all be sharpened.

[flyty1 0]

+1 on JayDub's suggestion on the Orvis nipper. I have been using mine since the mid 1990's and it is still going strong. The price isn't really too bad considering the nipper/zinger can be had for $20.

[Poopdeck 0]

I'm with you Bryon. I don't buy from fishbowls but I won't spend more then 4 bucks for nippers. Can't remember the last time I bought a pair but I rarely have to replace them. I seem to buy them just so I can have a pair on my lanyard, in my boat, in my tackle bag, on my bench and so on. The cheapos seem to work just fine for me. While I have said I need to get an extra pair of nippers, I have never ever said I need to get a better pair of nippers. Nipping mono does not require anything special.

[flytire 0]

 

from you local dollar store

[islander727 0]

I'm with flytire.

 

Sometimes you can get two for a buck!

[JSzymczyk 0]

stainless steel toenail clippers... the ones with a straight or slightly convex, not concave cutting edge. Yes they're larger than most "nippers" but they cut damn near anything, and they cut easily. I forget which brand I bought last, several years ago from a drugstore in the nail care section- but the steel is hardened to the point of being ridiculous. I wanted to drill a hole in the end to attach a retractable lanyard. I broke a carbon steel drill bit without making much of a mark. Then I ruined a "carbide coated" drill bit doing the same. Finally I was able to get through the two layers of steel at the "tail end" of the clippers using two carbide burrs in my dremel tool. Ruined the first one about half way through, and pretty much ruined the second one finishing the hole. The cutting edges are perfectly good after all these years. I was dumbfounded at how hard that steel is. They were something like $4 for a package with the larger toenail clippers and a regular size fingernail clipper. $20, $50, $100 clippers just show the world how stupid fly fishermen can be.

[Idaho RC 0]

I am totally sold on Dr. Slick. Super sharp and they last me years. I won't by anything else now. I think they are about 10 bucks.

[cphubert 0]

For the vest Tie Fast combo tool around 15.00 bucks stainless, made in US, with eye cleaner, hook file, and nail knot tier. After that stainless nail clippers for my boat bag and a few for spares in my pack from wallyworld or dollar store.

[mikechell 0]

I bought a separate back pack so I could carry my nippers.

 

 

 

I have the choice of three cutting tools !!!

 

Only $1300.00. (not including the backpack)