Click to view our Accessibility Statement or contact us with accessibility-related questions
Drop Refurbished
Like-new products you can trustDrop Rewards
Get $5 for every 500 points you earn! Learn more
Drop Keyboard Club
Become a member and expand your keycap collectionCollaborate With Us
For Brands & DesignersFollow Drop
every other nipper in this price range is going to be either stamped sheet metal or low purity chinese steel alloys without heat treatment (hardening). even the wihas in this price range are made in their asian plants.
for high steel surface hardness, the best known quantity manufacturing method is to take carbon steel billet blanks, heat treat them (heat to 2500C and then quench the steel), and finally, apply a precision grind.
this is also the most difficult method of manufacturing, as quenching high purity carbons steel alloys can produce surface hardness up to rockwell C70-80 (which is about as high as you can get before you're into sapphire/diamond territory), and then you need to precision grind this ridiculously hard surface. the result is superior, but not cheap in any way.
anyway, the poster who mentioned that xurons are cheaper is right. however, the quality is significantly lower, and given the price we're able to offer these for, we made the decision to present a full kit of high quality components rather than compromise on the nippers for a slight reduction in total price. in my experience, you're much better off starting with cutters that are BIFL rather than destroying dozens of slightly cheaper cutters before finally buying good ones.