Quality instument source

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Hi, can anybody give me some advice on where to obtain Quality, Instruments in the UK.

I am getting a little tired of the ones I buy that rust so quickly, where the 1st set I got when I was student lasted me for over a decade, no rust problems at all.

Thanks

Iain

 

Re: Quality Instuments

Iain,

You might try Hilary Supplies at Mount Sorrell, Loughborough, Leics

email: soniak@hilarysupplies.co.uk or Tel. 0845 345 1678.

Their instruments are top quality finest german steel.

 

Hi Iain,

The best ones I have bought are Batten Edwards. (I believe Mobilis sell them now).

The others I find really good are Solingen. (German).

All the best,

Mandy.

PS. I would complain to your previous supplier. I was unaware that stainless steel could rust!

 

Hi,

I won't mention the Conmpany as its probably not fair, however, when I did complain, they seemed to be puzzled, and replaced three sets that I had recently purchased. Lo and behold the replacements went the same way. The instruments went discoloured, stained, and rusted around the joints.

I have had to wire brush the rust off, spray lubricants to protect but still they are not up to standard and are embarresing to use on patients.

Anyway thanks for the advice

cheers
Iain

 

Iain,

Were they cantilever? If so the barrel spring is not autoclavabe & will rust.

ttfn,

Mandy.

 

:welcome:

Funny I have found the same thing, tools (particularly nippers) that I bought 10 years ago from Footman (Mobilis now) have never rusted and still cut well. Some of the tools that I buy now regularly rust, particularly under the jaw hinge, and I have to give them extra cleaning. Also they do not stay sharp, especially Batten Edwards which are the crappiest rubbish I've ever bought, not just the rust but the design is all wrong e.g. the mechanical advantage is to small and the cutting jaws are too big unless your cutting horses hooves. At £48 a pair they should be much better. In my opinion of course -(funny how two people can have such different experiences of the same thing eh Mandy).

Anyway I have found that a good soak over night or the weekend in PeraSafe does the trick and all instruments end up looking better than new. Then spray them with lubricant and autoclave un-packed, which gives a light coating over all surfaces and helps to retard the corrosion deposits.

I've tended to go for the very cheap nipper now and strangely enough they seem to be better than the expensive ones, they never rust and are much sharper from new, the springs do tend to break fairly early tho, but a change of hand operating technique and you don't need a spring loaded nipper anyway. (Mandy, you must have the hand strength of a Navvie cause BE tools (that I have bought and sent back for replacement, which were no better) are about as sharp as my eye, which is not so sharp these days and I'm considering contact lenses) and combine that with poor mechanical advantage.

Oh go on it's more fun and we can avoid them too then

Dave :morning:

 

Hello boys & girls,

It is true Dave. I am actually not a Pod'. My 'real' trade is as an aspalter to the stars. I just 'do' feet as a a sideline when the navvie work gets a bit slack or rogue traders (BBC UK) get wind of my exploits.

Truth is that Mr. Batten/Edwards (unsure which one) has a voice like warm honey & could sell sand to nomadic tribes in hot places (trying to be very politically correct here)

So........... it's not all down to strength. When I clip I just remember that voice & sigh. Nail falls away like butter from a hot knife. :butcher:

Have a good weekend all.

Mandy.

 

MMMMMMandy!

Butter in hot places and a girl with a firm grip in the sand dunes, you tell a good story honey. Phew! I've just made made an order with Batten Edwards.

Dave

 

Hi Iain

Try these http://www.timesco-footcare.co.uk

They Guarantee all their instruments for life ( and with no quibble as I have found out.)

Oh and Dave ALL my mobilis instuments are imho rubbish, the files rust or the nipper tips bend AND they are not very helpful if you tell them the faults:bang:
I no longer deal with the company.

cheers
Derek

 

Interesting to hear about others experiences with instruments.....personally I purchased mine through Baileys and have only had one duff pair of nippers (cheaper ones admittedly).
As for voices that sound like honey there is only one.......Mr Peter Alliss (makes the golf sooooo much fun).
Wendy

 

Thanks to you all,

I will certainly do some research into the advice I have been given,
I was releived to see that others have has similar problems.

Mandy, no I dont use Cantilever, as I am a specimen of Muscularity ,


cheers
Iain

 

Hi Wendy

Best sport commentator ever IMHO

Cheers
Derek

 

hy all,
just to add my bit. For twenty three years i have used Mobilis for all my instruments, and never had any problems. I have in the past tried other companys but the quality never seems as good. I always sonically cleanse my instruments and then use little sister ses autoclave and lubricate. My cantilever nippers have never gone rusty and stay sharp for a very long time enabeling me to get through the thickest of nails and i have rheumatoid arthritits!!
jane

 

Hi All

I am glad to see that I am not the only person having problems with instruments. Myself and a colleague have been having issues for the last 2 years and naming no names, but some companies may have already been mentioned. I have several issues one is the rust and secondly the blunting of the instruments. Moreover, we ordered straight edge nippers for IGTN and we have found that the tips have either bent backwards or snapped off(out of 18 nippers 15 have been faulty). Obviously we changed the instruments after a drawn out process with the company and various accussations and unfortunaly exactly the same thing has happend again along with the springs snapping. They claim that we are the only 2 podiatrists in the whole of the UK that have this problem so we must be dropping them or removing blades with the nippers. We also use all the solutions etc etc. I was informed that some german companies are making instruments in asia somewhere and just stamping them at there head offices but at no time are they made there anymore.

I dont know if it is coincidence ,but its strange how it has begun to happen since the companies have started providing disposable instruments.

I am running out of companies to order from, but also worried as at the price we pay how long there going to last. It sounds like Timesco maybe the route to take.

Chris

 

Chris,

This is absolutely what I have been on about,
I would rather pay more for better quality, than lees for crap, as we always lose out in the long run.
And as for the company saying, that you were one of a few in the whole country.....sounds like a case of Divide and Conquer.

I will never buy instruments form Canonbury(there I named the Company) again, They are clearly sourced in Asia, and the steel is crap.
These guys probably pay no more then a £5 per pair and Milk us for big profits. Then a few months later we need to buy again!!, Bull****:hammer:

I WANT QUALITY!!:craig:

AND I WILL PAY :boxing:

cheers
Iain

 

Chris could you PLEASE name names as it is no help to us otherwise. You might find plenty of proof that you're not the only podiatrists with this problem. There is no legal issue if you are fairly stating your experience of a company and it might encourage them to improve. Otherwise while we're being ever so polite and nice they're getting rich from us.

The tips bending and being accused of removing blades with them is interesting as the last place i looked at some nippers i noticed a few of them contacted first at the tip but i could see light through further along the blade, what's going to happen to those tips after a short while? I read on this thread - http://www.podiatry-arena.com/podiatry-forum/showthread.php?p=25254 - "Nippers are precision cast to close at the tip and, as you apply pressure, then make full contact down the entire blade length." Which is what the sales rep told me. I simply don't believe him. Otherwise why didn't they all do it? None of my old nippers do it either.

I think you're right about the german thing, this solingen hype seems really bogus, we're supposed to believe that everything coming from there is pure quality despite that every one i've looked at from there has been very roughly finished, especially around the joint. I know what a well machined tool should be like and these are not. Maybe it's a bit like Harley Street, someone can rent a room there but that doesn't inevitably make them high quality. Or maybe as you say they're actually made somewhere else and just use the name.

I ruled out batten edwards, they have 2 grades, one made in Pakistan nippers around about £30 pair and another range supposedly made in germany for £40 a pair. Both appear sub-quality IMO

I tried contacting Timesco asking if i could visit and see some nippers before shelling out hundreds of pounds (i need +10 pairs) but no, not possible to show them to me, she spoke to her manager but no they can't open a packet up. They have sales reps but i'm too insignificant for them to visit and no they wouldn't have any samples around their office or even any place in the building where i can be shown them :craig: And they couldn't tell me where they are made as that would be a purchasing matter, nothing a sales person would know :deadhorse:

Wouldn't it have cost £60 for a decent pair of nippers 10 years ago? Now i'm struggling to pay over £40 a pair, the most Cannonbury and Timesco ask is £30 a pair. I don't see how it can be possible to halve the cost and not reduce the quality significantly. I know labour costs in the far east are lower but still the materials and shipping must be a factor.

I want nippers that are made by craftsman from un-recycled Sheffield steel and i'm willing to pay for them. Is it just not possible any more??

 

I've just read this page http://www.baileyinstruments.co.uk/surgical.aspx?page=50 with interest.

It starts off well, sounding like they're going to have some serious quality instruments. Then at the end, reading between the lines, it says basically well it lasted a year and only cost you 20 quid so what are you moaning about?

I think i'd rather pay £60 and they last 10 years and are as top notch of a nipping experience as possible with minimal risk of developing RSI.

The search continues

 

Hi all

They would appear to be making a case for the disposable nipper ??

Perhaps they supply those as well ??

IMO I think you are on a hiding to nothing. I know the type of instrument you are looking for which was in normal use years ago, I still use a pair I purchased from "Footmans" 20 years ago.
BUT
Everything now is done for a cheap market and you are in the minority in wanting to pay loadsamunny for instruments. Like most things these days obsolescence or time limiting is built into everything so the manufacturers keep a turnover going because customers want everything on the cheap ( but moan a lot when it fails quickly).

I think we have the same outlook "you only get what you pay for" which I think still holds true but we are in a closed limited market, so......

Good luck in your quest anyway

Cheers
Derek

 

Derek i fear you are right but I find it hard to believe that we are in an industry that cannot sustain at least one supplier of top quality instruments.

But i totally agree that as a species we have somehow almost irradiated the understanding of Value For Money. We choose one for £20 that'll last a year and not be very good from day one over another which costs 3 times as much but lasts 10 to 20 years and is actually better to use as well.

It's the rise of the idiots.

I'll keep looking :bang:

 

Most of the big names now just concentrating on money and not on quality because of which every user is worried about.

We supply the single use as well as reusable podiatry instrument sets to reputable companies in Uk as well as to the NHS.

General set of podiatary comes with a Nipper, Scalpel handle, Blacks file and diamond deb.

If you have any inquiries, feel free to ask at info@candore.co.uk

Regards

 

nix8

It seems to me that you are purley here to sell instruments and obtain advertising.

Cornmerchant