And I have no idea what it’s called, if it even exists (though I’d be surprised if it didn’t), or where to get one. No, I’m not planning on going into practice, but I am going to be doing a little DIY surgery.
Being a machinist, I wind up with all kinds of hunks of metal embedded in me. Normally, these can be extracted with a pair of tweezers, however, there’s a class of splinter I often get that tweezers (at least the kind you pick up at Wallyworld, at any rate) can’t dig out. The splinter’s literally about the same diameter as a human hair and tweezers can’t get at them, nor can a needle (AKA “Splinter Out”), they can, however, be removed with fingernail clippers. The problem with fingernail clippers is that they’re concave, so unless the splinter’s in the right spot, I generally end up getting some hunks of me along with the splinter. This doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as those little splinters, but I’m sure that one of these days I’m going to end up looking like Dan Ankroyd in the Julia Child sketch, so I’d like to avoid that.
What I need is something shaped like tweezers, but the tip has the same kind of cutting edge as fingernail clippers. Is there anything like this?
Are you using the pointy tip tweezers, or what I know as eyebrow tweezers? It sounds to me like eyebrow tweezers would work like a charm for you. (Since they are meant for plucking stubborn hairs and all. ) I have a pair from Revlon (available at Wal-Mart and other stores) that slants, and the edges are designed to grip hair and hold better. They are like these, but mine are black. Good luck, I hope I’ve helped.
Here we go. From this site, go to Products -> Beauty Tools -> Eyes Shape and you will get Slant tip tweezers. The very tweezers I own are t here, the “Slant Tip Expert Tweezer”. I bought a special pair that is designated as splinter/sliver removal tools, when Mr. Clawbane was in his welding classes because the teacher made them grind their own pipes. I would think that the metal bits you want to remove aren’t so different from what he had to get out.
There is something like you describe, but I don’t know what it’s called or if you can buy it without a license. My OB/gyn used it to do a cervical (cervix, that is, not neck) biopsy. It was like a long fingernail clippers with a flat or convex end.
Ooh! Here’s one. Go to www.medline.com and search the online catalog for Cervical Biopsy Forceps, Baby-Tischler. Sorry I can’t make a direct link - it’s all weird for some reason.
Edit: I should also say that this sounds like it’s very close to what you’re asking for. They work like fingernail clippers, but the blades are angled (and not concave), and are shorter than fingernail clipper blades. They’re a lot like the angled tweezers mentioned above, but with actual cutting blades and the standard clipper mechanism.
Splinter Surgery is not my specialty, but there are a number of surgical forceps apparently designed especially for this purpose. Check them out here (some are available for as little as $7).
I have a pair of general purpose forceps that I occasionally use for getting out splinters.
Of course, (disclaimer disclaimer disclaimer) I am not recommending that you purchase and use any tool for self-surgery, no matter how minor.
I deal with the same problem occasionally, and I have found that flush cut pliers work quite well. There is no bevel to the cutting edge so they get right onto the splinter, or allow you to carefully trim the dead skin layer for access. They’re also more controllable than nail clippers, and grip better than any tweezers ever dreamed of. They are sold for electrical/electronics and jewelry work. Here are two examples:
Well, and on the flip side I found that the beveled edge on the “splinter tweezers” really helps in removal techniques because you can gently slide one edge under the tip of the sliver, then grip it and pull it out. You might be surprised at the gripping ablitiy of my tweezers, the are made for holding on to eyebrow hair, so they don’t slip. (Eyebrow hair is rather slippery.) For slivers that are clear beneath the skin though, we use a sterilized pen knife to “excavate” to the sliver, then tweezers to get it out. (That way there weren’t huge gouges of flesh taken with the sliver.)
I just want to mention that if it’s metal you’re getting stuck in you, you might have some success with magnets, too. Onbviously not all metal is magnetic, but I have a friend who had iron filings removed from her eye with a magnet (ewww! - but it worked.)
Then you might have no choice but to get used to pen knife “operations” to get the sliver out. Get a bottle of antiseptic Tea Tree oil (if your skin isn’t sensitive to it) or another kind of anti-microbrial to treat the blade with prior to excavating to get the metal out. Good luck.
I had this problem yesterday with a wee bit of titanium.
I’m a machinist too. Tucked in the corner of a drawer I have a small splinter removing tool kit; X-acto, a magnifing glass and a pair of jewlers tweezers.
With a super fine honing stone I ground the tip of the tweezers to to almost needle points.
Make your own tweezers! If that doesn’t work, try these companies; techni-tool,Grobet or the really cool, Gesswein
With all due respect, I submit that the right pair of flush-cut pliers is superior to these. The jaws are less bulky, the cutting edges are sharper, and they’re more easily controlled. They can be used with much more precision than the type of tool pictured, which I have used.
Base on your description I suspect you’re not familiar with these specific clippers. There are nail clippers that are similar but are much larger and bulkier which you may be thinking of. This is not for clipping large toenails. These are quite small at around 3 inches long and the jaws are very, very sharp. These are intended for very precise cutting of nails, and will incise skin extremely precisely, and used carefully can easily grab a tiny, slippery splinter as the jaw leverage is considerable.
The forceps with teeth make a great tweezer. The teasing needle has a really sharp point to get at a splinter too. I have a little kit and use it all the time for all sorts of things. Great fine scissor in the kit.
Mine was much cheaper but it came in a plastic case.
) I have a pair from Revlon (available at Wal-Mart and other stores) that slants, and the edges are designed to grip hair and hold better. They are like 
Get a bottle of antiseptic Tea Tree oil (if your skin isn’t sensitive to it) or another kind of anti-microbrial to treat the blade with prior to excavating to get the metal out. Good luck.