It's important to have the right cutters for your bead stringing materials. In this Beading Lesson, we'll cover a variety of tools and the materials they're meant to cut. For all of the cutters, using them solely for beading projects will ensure that they're sharp, long-lasting and close at hand when you need them.

Stainless steel beading scissors are very sharp and best for cutting thread or cord. Japanese scissors are typically very good quality, with precision tips for cutting in small spaces.

You can also use a snipper tool or squeeze scissors to cut thread or beading cord. The squeeze scissors also have smaller blades to allow them to cut in smaller spaces, such as between small, knotted beads.

Semi-flush cutters are great for everyday wire cutting, whether it's shaping wire, flexible beading wire, or stranded jewelry cable. Semi-flush cutters have a slight bevel on the blades, which produces a cut with a small pinch on the tip of the cut wire. Semi-flush cutters can also be used to trim beading needles when they need to be refreshed.

Flush cutters have a minimum bevel, which produces cuts with a very small pinch on one side. These cutters are great for cutting beading wire, soft shaping wire, thread and cord. The tips are typically pointier and easier to reach into tight spaces.

Memory wire shears are specially designed for cutting hard wire. Memory wire will damage ordinary cutters. Memory wire shears leave a clean, safe-to-handle straight edge on memory wire, and can even be used to cut jewelry cable.

Links:
Scissors & Snips
http://www.beadalon.com/Scissors.asp

Memory wire shears
http://www.beadalon.com/EconoTools.asp

Tools
http://www.beadalon.com/tools.asp

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