Fragging Tools

[jcook54]

What are your preferred set of fragging tools? Coral cutters, hemostats, pliers, tweezers and all that stuff. Do you have a brand you prefer?

I'm going to get myself a fancy kit for Christmas. In the past I've always bought a hemostat here, a plier there and never really took care of them like I should. With my upcoming purchase I'm going to make it a point to rinse and dry everything when I'm done using it. That being said, I'd gladly pay extra for a stainless steel that won't rust quite as easily as everything I've used up til now. @sharis100 had a nice set and when I asked her how she kept it look so good she said "I rinse it with freshwater when I'm done" and I realized that I rarely do that to mine. I'm at the point where I want to spend the money and do my best to take care of my hardware investment.

 

[lmm1967]

following - I was looking for non rusting stuff too - it's hard to find the quality of SS needed.

 

[jcook54]

It seems to me that the difference between the good one's and the cheap one's is in the amount that they rust. They all rust but the 'name brand' one's rust a bit on the surface and maybe a bit on the cutting edge and it stops. The cheaper one's I have need a few minutes of prep to get functioning well before I use them. You can't put drop of 3-in-1 oil on them to get them going when their next stop is the tank!

 

[sharis100]

What are your preferred set of fragging tools? Coral cutters, hemostats, pliers, tweezers and all that stuff. Do you have a brand you prefer?

I'm going to get myself a fancy kit for Christmas. In the past I've always bought a hemostat here, a plier there and never really took care of them like I should. With my upcoming purchase I'm going to make it a point to rinse and dry everything when I'm done using it. That being said, I'd gladly pay extra for a stainless steel that won't rust quite as easily as everything I've used up til now. @sharis100 had a nice set and when I asked her how she kept it look so good she said "I rinse it with freshwater when I'm done" and I realized that I rarely do that to mine. I'm at the point where I want to spend the money and do my best to take care of my hardware investment.

I got mine from BRS - got a kit and added a couple of extra items. Bought it during one of their holiday sales several years ago.

 

[york1]

I got mine from brs too and as long as you keep them clean they are great. Now if you want the best check into surgical level cutters etc... Tho i will warn you a small cutter like in the brs kit but made of surgical stainless steel is well over 100

 

[Steve Burton]

I bought a large set from eBay over two years ago, no rust on anything so far. But all I seem to use is the 2 bone cutters 2 tweezers and a scalpel. Two because I keep one of each upstairs and one downstairs, there's only one scalpel so I use a disposable razor knife too. Many hemostats and other fancy stuff never get touched.

 

[hiimsean]

I got bone cutters from brs and they’re pretty good. Mine have got a bit of rust due to neglect but they’ll cut through SPS no problem and cut the bottom of a frag plug easily.

 

[dball711]

Bone cutters large and small, stainless steel entail pick like instruments, a scaple (lots of extra blades, single edge razor blades & dremmel with a cutting wheel.

 

[dball711]

I got bone cutters from brs and they’re pretty good. Mine have got a bit of rust due to neglect but they’ll cut through SPS no problem and cut the bottom of a frag plug easily.

Soak them in Coke overnight and the rust will be gone!

 

[bhodges82]

Soak them in Coke overnight and the rust will be gone!

Vinegar works as well. I don't drink coke, but I may buy some to try this and see if it works better.

 

[bhodges82]

Bone cutters and razor blades are my tools for now. I cut a chalice once with a dremel, thank God for safety glasses, made a mess for sure. Occasionally I'll bring coral to a friend's house that has a gryphon saw.

 

[ActiveAngel]

Following. I also want to find a pair of good quality non-rusting tools. I’ve even bought some quality ones before that rusted on me. The fewer moving parts and fewer crevices seems like the lower probability of rusting.

Generally, I keep desiccant packs in the container with my tools. I don’t rinse with freshwater, however I sometimes rinse with alcohol and always wipe with a dry paper towel.

I use 2 bone cutters, 2 scalpels (large and small), tweezers, needle tweezers, scissors, pick (straight and curved), and a blunt edge (like a butter knife).

 

[camellia]

IDK of a kit but here’s my top go to fragging tools:
$15 bone cutters, $15 hemostats & $10 Guru Tweezers @ Amazon have held up great.
$17 small Skill dremel (15+ years old) bought at a Thrift store.
$10 diamond blades for dremel ebay (3 for $10).
$20 disposable cutting boards (paper... several options).
$20 small chisel also a fav.

Some of my favorite fragging tools are a Felco product (Gardening tool) Fine Nose bypass trimming F310 snip & classic 1” bypass pruners only for larger cuts certainly dont replace bone cutters. They do make top quality products & all parts (spring, blades...) can be purchased separately & easily replaceable.

Most tools out there will rust when used in a saltwater tank so I never recommend spending “bank”, a decent quality lasts if you wash & dry after each use.
*The Felco’s however will last you forever. If your no longer in the reef hobby you can use them out in the yard

 

[Adam]

Most of the true stainless tools will rust some on the surface in our application but be fairly fine with freshwater. The thing is that 300 series stainless steel is pretty soft because it cant be hardened. No carbon no hardening. The machinery and tools used to fabricate 300 series parts contain carbon. In the process of making the part this hardened tooling transfers come carbon to the stainless. It's this surface carbon that causes the rusting. Most good manufacturers will passivate the product as a last step. But even that will not eliminate rusting entirely. You also have the fact that your hands and the things we're working on have carbon that will be transferred to the tool.

Looking for 305 or better yet 316 stainless will help. But 316 is fairly costly, it is considered surgical stainless even though it has many other applications.

Vinegar does work to clean the tools up, as will most weak acids. It's the phosphoric acid in coke that does the cleaning.