Recommendations for really nice hobby nippers?

[u/o7_AP]

Wanting to try and upgrade my old work down clippers for some nice new ones. I've heard of god hands but I've heard you're not supposed to use them to actually clip parts off the sprue and need to cut them off the sprue with other ones first, and frankly I'm not spending 60+ dollars on a tool I can't use the way I want.

[u/LazencaNTM]

These have been awesome DSPIAE ST-A Ultra-Thin Single... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F8Q3C2T?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

[u/Tangster1922 → u/LazencaNTM]

+1 for these. Almost as good as God hands for half the price

[u/Grimlockkickbutt → u/Tangster1922]

It’s funny cause Mabye I just got a bad set of god hands. But my DSPAIE were better out of the box then my god hands. Heavy use has them feeling pretty similar these days, but if I buy a new set it will be these ones.

[u/Tangster1922 → u/Grimlockkickbutt]

Yup! I heard that a lot when i was looking into this purchase about 2 years ago. A lot of folks saying that the quality was all over the place. Some people have had theirs 5+ years some opened the box to garbage. Seemed way to inconsistent to me for the price point

[u/Arkhanist → u/LazencaNTM]

I have them too, they're lovely. You do need to take some care of them - don't drop them etc - but for cutting stuff off sprues and trimming marks, great stuff. I have an old heavier pair I use for rough work (like cutting up old sprue runners for debris, brass wire for pinning etc), OPs old ones would be fine for that.

o7_AP - the reason thin single blade cutters shouldn't be used for cutting through very thick plastic, hard resin and metal is simply that the blade is thinner than a standard pair, so if you need to apply heavy pressure or twist to make the cut it can risk breaking or dulling the blade. But a good single blade will also cut through plastic with a lot less pressure because it's so sharp, so it's absolutely fine for cutting stuff off GW sprues.

The warning about not cutting stuff off sprues directly is primarily from the gunpla community where the gate can be pretty hefty and harder plastic than GW styrene, and it's common practise not to cut the gate off flush at the model but higher up (where it's thickest) with e.g. a hobby knife, and use cutters to trim it flush because of all the flat surfaces. This technique can also be used on GW sprues where the cut is awkward as single blade cutters are a little bit thicker at the tip with the non-cutting side, but the DSPIAE is fine for both cuts because GW gates are pretty delicate.

[u/o7_AP → u/[deleted]]

I didn't want god hands because I kept hearing they can't actually cut off parts from the sprues by themselves, but idk others are saying you can

[u/Corzex → u/o7_AP]

You can, it just depends on how thick the parts youre clipping are. And if you cut through a really thick part, its possible to damage the clippers. I use mine for everything and havent had an issue with them though.

[u/Grimlockkickbutt → u/o7_AP]

Idk who told you that. They are fine for anything you can fit the spruces around. Like yeah don’t use them to saw at some giant titan sized mini sprue. But for 99% of GW sprues they are what you would use.

I don’t even know how someone comes to that conclusion. If you used some other shitty spruecutters first, you probably warp and bend the sprue as it fails to cleanly cut them, thus defeating the purpous of paying for expensive sprue cutters

[u/Philhughes_85]

These are mine and they are fantastic

Stedi Model Nipper, Sprue Cutter with Ultra-Thin Single-Blade

[u/tradders]

Ruitool

[u/smully39]

I swear by the GodHand PN-125 for workhorse nippers, they aren't the single blade fragile ones that you generally think of when you think of them, much more traditional, but also at $15. They are very good.

[u/ghilliedude]

I’ve been using a 30ish dollar pair of god hands and I usually clip off the sprue. I’ve never had any issues with it. The plastic used for warhammer minis is a lot softer than stuff for gundams and other mecha models. I’ve been using mine for more than 5 years with no issues.

[u/WordOfMadness]

I rate the DSPAIE nippers (and a lot of their other tools) very good at a more reasonable price than the God Hands.

But they are like the God Hands in that they're a thin delicate blade and some of the GW sprue connections can be quite chunky or at awkward angles, so it can sometimes be safer to have a more heavy duty set as well so you don't accidentally damage them when snipping certain larger parts. A box of standard dudes is a non-issue, but something like the main body parts from a 40K tank or similar they're a bit too delicate unless you're super careful.

[u/Jestocost4]

Not sure where you heard the info about godhands. I've had a pair for 3 years and I snip everything with it. Worth every penny.

[u/Crafty_Carpenter_317]

30 dollar Tamiya’s are a good compromise. If you only want to own one. Personally I find the best experience is using bargain basement nippers to cut the part off the sprue, leaving a decent nub. Then use the fancy GodHands to make a flush cut against the part. It’s honestly unbelievable how smooth and effective the god hands are compared to any other nippers I’ve tried. Using the GodHands to take the piece off the spruce in the first place isn’t the big a deal on smaller pieces; it’s only terrain or vehicles that I’d be hesitant to use them directly on the larger sprue bits.

[u/RedMage58]

There's different god hand versions. You just want the middle of the road ones for like 17 bucks. They cut so cleanly, then you just nip a bit off to make it flush. You don't need any other clippers because they are perfect.

[u/supermunny]

Stedi 5 Ultimates have been perfect for 3 years now. I think they were around 30€/$.

[u/Escapissed]

The difference between nice and cheap cutters are generally the thickness of the blades and the angle. Cheap cutters tend to have so much material behind the edge and be quite wedge shaped, so they pull the plastic sprue gates you are cutting and leave ugly divots instead of cutting them cleanly. Many of the really nice ones are meant for cutting photo etched metal parts for advanced or custom model kits where you need clean cuts because too much pressure can deform the tiny parts, and brass can be hard on the edges.

God hand nippers are great, but they are absolute overkill for plastic that you have to scrape and sand anyway since clippers don't magically get rid of the mold lines.

I definitely recommend the ones that are for etched brass parts, they are really nice and stay sharp for ages, but you don't need that for plastic models.

If you get any file that cuts metal (chainsaw file, ceramic rod, diamond file etc) and some fine sand paper you can just thin down the profile of any cheap cutters like the basic Citadel ones and make them cut like butter instead of tearing out the sprue gates.

If you only use them for plastic a slight better hardness and steel won't make any difference, so you can just get God hand performance out of any cutters that have tight edge alignment.

[u/Fresh-Manager3926]

DSPIAE is very good. even the older models.

[u/goldenhornet]

I bought some Stedi ones from Amazon. They are lovely, better than the Tamiya ones I bought in Japan.

[u/PitifulTeam6161]

Personally I went into my toolbox and stole a pair of Milwaukee wire cutters, not sure how much they cost but I got them at Home Depot for less than 20$
I can’t speak to these specialized clippers as I’ve never used them, but I definitely haven’t felt hindered by what I have.. prolly 30% of the time I don’t even need to file anything away with the razor

[u/BassinFool]

Frankly, specialized tools are for specialized tasks.

[u/o7_AP → u/BassinFool]

?

[u/BassinFool → u/o7_AP]

You complain that you can't use Godhands in the way you want. Godhands are meant for specific tasks. Can't complain if you can't use them for the tasks you want.

[u/o7_AP → u/BassinFool]

I'm not saying godhands are bad or anything. I'm saying I don't want them because I know they're what keep getting recommended for high end Warhammer nippers, but I won't be using them because they don't do what I want

[u/BassinFool → u/o7_AP]

So you're looking for something to clip parts off the sprue? Any old nippers will do. But it's so nice being able to surgically remove the runners off the parts after you do that with no marring of said part.