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hsingscrapper · Joined: June 9, 2012 Posts: 111 Submissions: 0

I have bigger hands than most of my fellow ladies. When I stretch my fingers as far as possible, the spanse from my thumb to pinky is 8 inches and been that way since my teen years.

My pliers (bought as part of a set before the maille bug bit) have handles that would be better suited to someone with smaller hands. I do like the spring they have, however.

So which pliers do you prefer?

I used to be sane then I became a mom!!!

Website Admin and Coder · Posted on Wed Aug 08, 2012 1:39 am

As a large handed male, I recommend Xuron 475 (toothless) pliers.

TRL sells them, but in the US you can get them from Amazon or a bunch of different suppliers.

They're not large-hand specific... I recommend them to everyone Smile

But they are comfortable for my massive mitts.

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hsingscrapper · Joined: June 9, 2012 Posts: 111 Submissions: 0

Are they the ones with the "ky475" under the name of the pliers?

I used to be sane then I became a mom!!!

Gallery Assistant · Posted on Thu Aug 09, 2012 11:50 pm

Oh I have large hands as well (thumb to pinkie measures around 9", and not even fully stretched), and I found, that longer-handled pliers like e.g. Wubbers Classic, and also pliers with comparably thick but hard padding scales work well for me.

Long- but also thin-handled pliers are usually modified by me with PVC or pressure hose tubing over the handles to make them thicker. See my article Tweezers and Tools - The Next Iteration ...

About the Xurons: They're fine for small-stuff work, but I find them not comfortable enough, as their handles completely vanish in my large frypan hands, and so their relatively thin handle ends are a (for me) inconvenient pressure spot. Among the 4.5 to 5" plier class pliers made by (e.g.) Knipex or Wiha, with their comparably fat grip padding scales are imho much more convenient.

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Semi-Retired Website Admin · Posted on Fri Aug 10, 2012 1:48 pm

Nine inches is big? I thought I was about average...

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hsingscrapper · Joined: June 9, 2012 Posts: 111 Submissions: 0

Bils · Posted on Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:18 am

Oh, I hear ya! I've got the biggest hands I've ever seen on a woman and most pliers are ridiculously small in my hands. I have two sets that I use for mailling: I have been making maille for 10 years and have bought more pliers than I care to count. I finally splashed out and bought expensive goldsmith's pliers rather than beader's pliers. My theory is that beaders are mostly women and goldsmiths are (traditionally) mostly men and the pliers are sized accordingly.
At the end of the day these ones are expensive but worth it.
Swanstrom
Linsdtrom RX

Buy two pairs of flat nose, whichever you choose. The swanstroms have longer handles but the Lindstrom RX are ergonomic and the ones that I use far more. If you buy the Lindstrom RX - I got mine from Rio Grande - buy a packet of the extra springs to go with them and be aware that Rio have a reconditioning service for pliers.