Grow Scissors

[Shredder]

I thought I'd start this thread by mentioning what I use and we can go from there.

I use ti coated curved bladed scissors. I have two brands but dont remember the brands. One might be hydrofarm. I think I have four pairs and some straight blade scissors as well. I like the curve because it follows the natural curve of the buds.

To keep them clean I store them in a glass cup filled with olive oil up to the top of the blades.
The oil makes the resin and grime either fall off or easily removable. For cleaning scissors mid trim I use iso on a scotch brite pad and keep a half gallon size of bottle of purell and a roll of paper towels at hand for my sticky fingers. I go thru about a gallon a year of purell in my grow area. I use it whenever I'm handling buds.

I've also found that you can buy replacement springs for trimming scissors. They're cheap and come in packs that last and last. I break a spring about yearly. And I trim roughly 32 largish plants a year, or about 10-12 lb of bud over the course of a year.

Also I'm curious if anyone tried any electric scissors? I've seen speedee trim scissors on amazon but they're pricey $397 for AC and $450 for battery operated. A little pricy for me, actually a lot pricy, lol, plus the reviews mention they work best on 60-70 % dried material, but I trim wet.

 

[LesPlenty]

I just keep buying little stubby ones and scrape off what I can with a box cutter to keep them going,

 

[Shredder]

I just keep buying little stubby ones and scrape off what I can with a box cutter to keep them going,
View attachment 5796

Most of mine are spring loaded like the top middle one with all the resin on its handles. I think the springs make it easier on my hands. Sometimes after a few hours I get cramps in my hands. I have a set of heavier shears, something like yours, for cutting thick stems as well.

I almost bought some fancy Japanese scissors once, but the price was just too high. The salesman said he loved them, but I was priced out.

 

[LesPlenty]

I don't worry about the handles too much as I always wear disposable gloves, just like a doctor.

 

[Shredder]

I don't worry about the handles too much as I always wear disposable gloves, just like a doctor.

Doctor of herbology? Doctor dank?

I never liked wearing gloves while trimming. And I do get sticky hands, so every ten minutes or so I'm cleaning my sticky hands, lol. I get sticky while making rosin and handling pucks too. I should try gloves again I guess.

My scissor handles get all sticky like yours as well. I clean them with alcohol, maybe yearly.

 

[LesPlenty]

Went shopping with the wife in a haberdashery store (I am slightly ashamed I know what that means) and noticed some interesting scissors, Fiskars, like the yard equipment, they come with a lifetime warranty (as if I would ever take my hash coated ones in!) and were AU$10, I also saw a slightly smaller pair (non-branded) for AU$3 so I grabbed them too.
They are called 'Thread scissors';

All set for next weeks harvest.

 

[ClearBlueLou]

I’d think the nice thing abt gloves would be that gloves are easier/quicker to clean in 99 ISO...skin doesn’t like that (okay, *my* skin).
I understand that some can’t tolerate the whatever about collecting resin and reclaiming it via evaporation, but I’m not like that.

By the same token, I’m not sure I’m prepared to try and SCRAPE caked-up resin off of every sq.mm of my hands: I depend on my hands for my livelihood, and an accident would be expensive on top of all else aside and could get blood in the resin.

 

[LesPlenty]

I always use gloves but just chuck em out when finished.

 

[Shredder]

I’d think the nice thing abt gloves would be that gloves are easier/quicker to clean in 99 ISO...skin doesn’t like that (okay, *my* skin).
I understand that some can’t tolerate the whatever about collecting resin and reclaiming it via evaporation, but I’m not like that.

By the same token, I’m not sure I’m prepared to try and SCRAPE caked-up resin off of every sq.mm of my hands: I depend on my hands for my livelihood, and an accident would be expensive on top of all else aside and could get blood in the resin.

I use purell to get resin off my hands. I think it has aloe or something in it too. It doesnt dry you out like straight iso would. I buy it in the half gallon size and use it frequently. I don't think I'd like scraping resin off my hands either, lol. Not into finger hash or scissor hash either. I typically trim for hours at a time, and mostly just want to get it done.

After a crop is completely trimmed, I do a little scissor maintenance. I clean off any resin and store them in a cup partly filled with vegetable oil. When I use them I wipe them with paper towels and there all lubed and the oil loosens any crud that I might have missed. Once a year or so I take the scissors apart for a complete cleaning, carefully file off any burs or nicks on the blades, and I keep spare springs because eventually they do break.

 

[ClearBlueLou]

Perhaps I’ve just spent too many years in cannabis-parched weed deserts, but I could not just throw away that much medicine. Even now that I *can* get decent weed, I waste as little as possible, stripping down stems, rinsing grinders and bangers and tools (oh my...), saving abv...at this point, it’s about my nature and my value system: cannabis has been the Pearl of Great Price in my world, and such disrespect shown toward it by me would be a shift in who I am. A shift that would bother me, a shift away from mindfulness.

Supplies around here go dry rather often. Until I am growing, and harvesting, more than I can use, I’ll probably stay like this (but ya never know...).

This is not a judgement! I’m only accountable for my own relationships, nobody else’s. Just, got me thinking.

 

[LesPlenty]

I have been self-sufficient for 20 odd years and after spending the best part of a day chopping and trimming, the last thing I ever thought about was my gloves! I used to like scissor scrapings in a spliff but those days are gone now along with combustion. Vaping has also helped my supply no end, I now actually get to cure my buds instead of just drying. Now I have tried rosin I doubt I will bother with reclaim anymore too.

 

[Shredder]

Perhaps I’ve just spent too many years in cannabis-parched weed deserts, but I could not just throw away that much medicine. Even now that I *can* get decent weed, I waste as little as possible, stripping down stems, rinsing grinders and bangers and tools (oh my...), saving abv...at this point, it’s about my nature and my value system: cannabis has been the Pearl of Great Price in my world, and such disrespect shown toward it by me would be a shift in who I am. A shift that would bother me, a shift away from mindfulness.

Supplies around here go dry rather often. Until I am growing, and harvesting, more than I can use, I’ll probably stay like this (but ya never know...).

This is not a judgement! I’m only accountable for my own relationships, nobody else’s. Just, got me thinking.

I keep a bag of trim next to me when I trim. When my trimming tray gets a lot of trim on it, I dump it in the bag. I save fan leaves for future fertilizer in a 5 gallon pail. And sugar leaves and small buds go in the trim bag. When my scissors or my hands get sticky and there's enough I ball it up and throw it into the bag as well. The final clean is with purell and paper towels. And the trim is a freebie for my patients. The stems and root balls get tossed into the forest right behind me to rot with other sticks and forest debris. So really there's not much wasted.

After you've trimmed a while you develope a system. First thing is to rip a dab, lol. My first wet trim is the hardest, debudding the stems is easy. I trim stems about 18 inches long and hang on stainless steel clothes hangers to dry. Curing is easy. A plant with 6 oz of dried bud takes me about 3 hours including sweeping up, depending on the plant. Some are tougher than others.