Long gone are the days we had to use household scissors and end up in despair, tryna trim our harvest with gunked up tools.
Lots of options on the market out there. All the same? Good to go with el cheapo? Or is there a clear cut best that makes all the others a bad purchase?
I tried out and compared 4 different trim scissors (well 5 since 2 models from Fiskars) so you wouldn’t have to.
For those of you who hate reading/are results oriented and just want the answer straight up:
It’s Chikamasa. The others don’t hold a candle and are simply the wrong buy for the task if you can get them (unless spring-action is THAT important to you).
The contestants:
Now we all know that household/regular scissors are no good for the task at hand. Even if we swap the household scissors for say nail scissors with a small tip, the blade is still too short and gunks up way too fast.
We need scissors intended for trimming, ideally with a coating against sticking from the resin, which is the ultimate final boss in trimming cannabis.
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Chikamasa B-500sf Stainless Steel Scissors W/ Fluorine Coating : Amazon.de: Home & Kitchen
The japanese solution. These are the only scissors in the race that aren’t spring action. Really, the only downside for the Chikamasas is that they don’t come as a spring action variant. These babies are Japanese engineered high tech tools. Originally intended for use with fruit plants such as berries and grapes. You know the japanese are famous not only for their Bonsai trees but also for the fact that space is at a premium with regard to plants. Fruit plants are often meticulously cared for (and trimmed repeatedly) to absolutely maximize their output for the space they occupy. Resulting in famous things such as perfect strawberries that cost like 10 bucks a piece.
When caring so carefully for such plants, resin/juice can coat normal scissors and make them gunk up, so for this purpose, the japanese developed a special fluoride based coating that works similar to teflon in cooking utensils. NOTHING sticks to these babies and if it does, you can wipe it off with your fingers without even applying pressure. -
AC Infinity 6.6" Stainless Steel Secateurs Lightweight Ergonomic Design Straight Precision Blades with Non-Stick Titanium Coating for Horticulture, Hydroponics and Grow Tents : Amazon.de: Garden
AC infinity is highly touted for their modern growing solutions that apply current technologies efficiently. Can their scissors hold up to the specialists? -
Fiskars Solid Micro-Tip Secateurs : Amazon.de: Garden
The current title holder? Fiskars were THE answer whenever I looked into harvesting/trimming scissors. Everyone kept re-iterating that all you need is Fiskars and you are good to go. Never have to look back or bother with anything else.
IF you wanted to go the extra mile and REALLY wanted to be sure you got the best tool for the job, you would get these:
Fiskars 5 Inch Titanium Micro-Tip Easy Action Scissors : Amazon.de: Home & Kitchen
Note those aren’t even relly available/sold in Europe. I had to get them brought over through the military back in the day. The Fiskars owned special titanium coating was supposed to be the end all be all of trim scissors. It gets no better, if you are frustrated trimming with these, then you need to look into automated trimming -
FLORA GUARD 6.5 Inch Micro-Tip Pruning snip Gardening Hand Pruning Shears Trimming Scissors with Stainless Steel(Blue) : Amazon.de: Garden
El cheapo variant of the spring action scissors like Fiskars.
Sometimes on sale in Germany where you can get a 2 pack at aldi for like 5 bucks.
Look the same, feel the same (or, spoiler, even better than AC infinity) but do they work the same?
Test/Methodology:
Aside from some years of experience with various scissors, I had never been able to use the Fiskars with titanium coating in the years since I acquired them and had just learned about Chikamasa and gotten those.
Had a trim session yesterday, where i had a big ass winner plant that took me several hours to trim. I simply rotated through the different scissors while trimming that plant and want to quickly share my experiences (sorry for the lack of pics but what would they really add?).
I will start from the end here with:
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el cheapo
Works absolutely fine. Depending on which el cheapo you get, the tips will be more or less suited to get in between your buds and make clean cuts. The problem with el cheapos is that, to varying degrees, they gunk up and fast. With some of the el cheapos you will have to clean your scissors every few minutes, severely impeding your trim efficiency. Even with proper cleaning (iso propanonl, special sponge to wipe off the blades without damaging/dulling them) they also dull quite fast and even the springs can start creaking/giving out kinda fast. Considering a “good” pair is usually no more than double the cost and stays sharp/useful AT LEAST for twice as long, this should be a no-brainer. If you go with el cheapos, you are likely going to buy bulk from the start and keep rotating scissors out.
But trust me, it ain’t worth it, it just slows you down. -
Fiskars
The non-coated Fiskars are essentially “only” marginally better than el cheapos. They just gunk up too fast without a coating. Still have to clean them every couple minutes, albeit not as frequently as el cheapos. They also stay sharp (at least I didn’t manage to dull a pair yet but haven’t used them much either) and the spring doesn’t give in. Everything is higher quality and built to last. Definitely worth the price but sadly, not really the right tool for the job.
Now the TITANIUM COATED FISKARS are a different story. This is where we are getting somewhere. Noticeable upgrade over the other scissor types, simply due to the titanium coating. However, the purpose of the Titanium coating is not to avoid gunking up/getting sticky but to make sharper cuts with an edge that stays hard/sharp for longer.
Now these babies ARE SHARP and do stay so even after long use and cleaning. No issues there. The shape/tip is great to reach those hard to reach leafs etc. etc. the spring is the usual high quality stuff from Fiskars.
All and all this is close to the right tool, HOWEVER they still gunk up. Just muuuuch slower than non-coated scissors of any type. You can do an hour session with these without having to clean them, no problem.
My biggest Issue with them is that the titanium coat started to rub off around the cutting edges of the blades pretty much from the very beginning. So far it hasn’t progressed all that much and the coating seems to come off only on the cutting edge but unlike the Chikamasas, when you eventually want to remove that scissor hash (something ALWAYS sticks), even if after an hour, with the titanium coated Fiskars you actually have to scratch the scissor hash off. Without applying your fingernail and some pressure, it won’t come off. I am worried that this will negatively impact the titanium coating over prolonged use even further.
But this is not far off the mark!
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AC Infinity scissors
Total disaster. Cheap, light, squeaky spring action out of the box. Dunno what material they use but it ain’t coated stainless steel I am pretty sure. Anyway, when I realised that the tip is flat/not pointed that was it for me. Absolutely useless for bud trimming, don’t even have to discuss the gunking up or whatever. I use these as a smaller set of gardening shears now for clipping off smaller branches or taking clones n such. the scissor-cleaner (tub with pre-cut sponge in it) they came with works fine though, so there is that. -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSRA3ngRoW8
The Chikamasa
What a name. What a product. Such Japanese.
Seriously what is there to say?
IT WORKS.
Aside from what I mentioned in the intro, you can literally go an entire trimming session without cleaning it once. They stay sharp, they stay ready and they stay working.
Perfectly sharp, fine, precise and they stay like that if you clean them or not.
Any scissor hash that sticks to it can be simply wiped off with your finger without having to apply any pressure whatsoever. Their coating simply WORKS.
And after prolonged use where the Fiskars titanium coating already started to peel off? No such thing with the Chikamasa. Look brand new after cleaning with isopropyl alcohol.
Conclusion:
For trimming cannabis buds and the unique/particular issue of “gunking up” in particular, there is, imho and experience, a clear answer and only one. Until Fiskars or someone else produces something with a similar level of coating, it’s the Chikamasa by a mile. They are the actual “right tool” for the job, unlike anything else on the market.
The only drawback I can see is, as I mentioned, that they don’t come as a spring action variant. If you put a lot of stock in that, then the Fiskars titanium coated are the right buy.
But nobody will ever regret spending the 30 odd bucks on a pair of Chikamasa scissors for trimming buds. I can pretty much guarantee that.
This is obviously not sponsored or anything in any way.
I just tend to do pretty deep research into these type of things and hope my experience/research helps others as this question should come up any time a human trims buds and screams in despair due to the 5 gunked up scissors next to them.
Stay frosty y’all
Broseidon out
/EDIT
I mislabeled the Chikamasa coating as “fluoride” while the correct spelling is actually “fluoriNe” in case you are searching on google!
Also, as @FyahSelecta posted further down in the thread:
The Chikamasa TP-500 SRF is spring action and is sold with fluorine coating as well!
