What kind of tweezers would you guys recommend?
Titanium or stainless steel (inox)
with groove or without groove.
Or with sliding lock?
Any size recommendation (S,M,L,XL)
For a everyday gemologist and gem dealer.
Thanks for the advice.
There are two main type of tweezers : 1. locking tweezers 2. soldering tweezers.
- For locking tweezers you are able to lock and secure in well when stone is holding at the tweezers. (with slide lock)
- For soldering type tweezers, you have to be alert the pressure control of your hand. If the tension is too strong your stone will āfly outā from your tweezers. This will need a little practice on soldering type tweezers.
I would recommend the locking tweezers (slide lock) for novice, after familiar with locking tweezers you can easily get start with soldering type. 
Tweezer with groove - is a advantage, especially for medium to large stones.
Tweezer without groove - best for smaller stones.
While any of the stones has various size. Get each one of them for convenience.
Stainless steel tweezer is heavier than titanium. Titanium is always my favorite ,Superb light !!
Stainless steel you can feel the heaviness and it will make confuse for the pressure you apply when handling a stone. But stainless steel cost less about twice/thrice (in my district seller) compare to titanium tweezers. If you donāt have any budget titanium is the excellent choice!!
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Hope this will help 
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Any tweezers that are comfortable for you and that grip stones securely are the ones you should get. They should be big enough to pick up and hold standard sizes, say up to 16x20, if you deal in stones that big. They probably do need some grooves in them to help them grip. I like black ones because they donāt reflect light into my eyes. I do use locking tweezers, but Iām very careful with them since one time years ago when I was taking a GIA workshop in Atlanta. I had a half carat ruby in the tweezers and had them locked, perhaps a little too hard. The stone flew out of the tweezers and was lost. All of us students got down on the floor and looked for the stone without success. The instructor had a vacuum with a new bag used to vacuum the room, still no stone. Eventually I paid $80 to replace the stone, which was not a great stoneā¦much of the money went towards recataloging the replacement stone in the GIAās traveling collection. I think the stone went behind a baseboard which was installed with a space between it and the wallā¦but I couldnāt go prying the baseboards off the wallā¦
So moral of the story is to be aware that stones can spring out of locked jaws and get lost or damaged. If the stone is held securely, itās OK to lock it in place, but donāt lock it too tight, which could chip it or send it flyingā¦ -royjohn
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Thanks for the advice.
Looking for those perfect gem tweezers can be an headache. I prefer the locking tweezers in stainless. I ordered mine without the groove so I could position my grove exactly where I wanted it and at what depth I wanted. I use the smallest point without a groove for the smaller stones and I cut my groove farther back from the tip for holding my larger stones. For some stones that are much softer, I will put some guards over the ends of them so I do not hurt any stones. I found some silicone covers that do wonders at a welding shop.
Get a pair that is comfortable to you and easy to work with one hand. You want your locking slide to be able to move freely.
I hope this helps.
All the best,
Otter.
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I like to have a little bit of security when handling stones, especially small ones that like to flip into some carpet and play hide and seek!
A trick in fishing and walking on very slippery rocks is to use felt bottomed waders. With tweezers, I glue on a fine piece of felt on the end of the tweezers. You will never need to worry about scratching or having a stone flip out from your tweezers again.
I have some stainless s. tweezers but most of mine are tungsten as I work with silver also.
Grey colored felt, for me, seems to be the best color as it is neutral for pics and also looking at stones in oil before faceting.
I also mostly use crosslock tweezers because they hold the stone themselves.
Hope that helps!
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