Recently I’ve been making a lot of Viking knit chains. Its the perfect thing for me to do in the evenings, when I’m ready to relax and watch some TV or listen to some music. Viking knit is a woven chain that is made by looping wire around a dowel or other small narrow form, and then running the woven wire through a draw plate to make it neater and more flexible.
So when given the opportunity to test out these small-head Lindstrom Cutters*, I thought I’d do some more Viking knit.
The first thing I noticed about these cutters is the ergonomic grip. These are really comfortable. My Tronex flush cutters are my workhorse cutters in the studio, but I actually prefer the grip on these. The second nice thing I noticed was the smooth springy action of the cutters. I didn’t need to oil these at all – they were ready to go. Lastly, they cut really well. They give a clean cut (though not a flush cut) and they do not send little bits of wire flying across the room. That last part is what I appreciate most – I don’t have to try to hold my hand over the area to cut to keep pieces from flying. I can see what I am doing, and that’s really helpful when I’m trying to snip a 26-gauge wire splice in a section of Viking Knit.
I think these are a great overall pair of cutters. I wouldn’t want to use them on too heavy a gauge (they say up to 1mm, or about 18ga, but I’d stick to 20 or lighter). If I was going to be snipping a bunch of pieces to make head-pins or ear wires, I’d definitely go with these because of the comfortable grip.
*Lindstrom cutters courtesy of Micro-Tools and Melissa Muir via the Great Tool Giveaway in The Jeweler’s Corner Facebook group.
