Everyone has that one invaluable tool, that is always missing when you need it. 

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion) 01/30/2018 at 13:51 • Filed to: None

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For me it’s this pair of left-handed scissors. Fiskars, kept razor-sharp, wonderful ergonomics, tough as nails. Fabric shears, but they’ve easily handled tougher jobs when I didn’t want to use tin snips. 9/10 times when needed (which is often) they’re nowhere to be found. What about you?

Needle nose pliers is a close second. I must have like 5 pairs, yet somehow I struggle to find one. No problem finding the normal pliers, of which I don’t recall buying a single time yet still seem to have a never-ending supply. Strange how that works.

Oh and fellow left-handed people, if you haven’t experienced the joy of left-handed tools, go on Amazon right now and fix that. Will change your life.

CalzoneGolem > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 13:54

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I’m a lefty and I’ve never struggled with scissors though it seems to be a chief complaint amongst our kind. Have I ascended to the next level?

Party-vi > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 13:56

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Those scissors are awesome - I still have my orange-handled pair from over a decade ago.

Matt Nichelson > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 13:56

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I’m a lefty and love the left-handed scissors I have.

Party-vi > CalzoneGolem 01/30/2018 at 13:56

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You’ve never had to use right-hand-specific scissors? They’re the fuckin worst.

WilliamsSW > CalzoneGolem 01/30/2018 at 13:56

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I don’t know what your secret is but the struggle with right handed scissors is real. They suck ass for me.

AestheticsInMotion > CalzoneGolem 01/30/2018 at 13:57

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I can certainly use right-handed scissors, or the common cheap universal ones. But switching over to lefty shears makes cutting a lot more efficient, accurate and less straining on the hand and wrist.

Don’t worry, as a lefty you’re already at a heightened plane of existence

WilliamsSW > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 13:58

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Hmm, those scissors look nice - and yeah, I’m a lefty, too.

For me, it’s usually my screwdriver which has interchangeable tips. I use it a lot, and I’m a moron who doesn’t put things back where they belong.

AestheticsInMotion > Party-vi 01/30/2018 at 14:02

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The only thing better than finding a great, durable tool is finding said tool without having to break the bank for it. Under $20 for something I’ll use all the time? Sold

AestheticsInMotion > WilliamsSW 01/30/2018 at 14:04

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I used to always lose tips, so I started to just keeps three tips of Philips #2, two Phillips #1 and two flathead tips inside the driver. Specialty tips kept in my storage shed/mini-shoo

Pich, with Z32 now featuring Civic [Si] / No > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 14:05

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i have never used specific left hand scissors

WilliamsSW > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 14:07

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That’s a great idea - - besides constantly misplacing the thing to begin with, I flat out lost one of the Phillips tips a month or so ago. And I rarely use the specialty tips.

BRB buying those Fiskars

TheRealBicycleBuck > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 14:16

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I have a whole bunch of tools that I have trouble locating. Scissors, tape, screwdrivers, a drill. The reason is clear. I have a wife and kids. I even lost the step ladder for a couple of months. I finally discovered that m y wife had turned it into a “ temporary” clothes rack. And don’t forget batteries. I have to buy packs of AAs and hide them in my sock drawer so I always have a supply. 

AestheticsInMotion > TheRealBicycleBuck 01/30/2018 at 14:27

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Losing large items is the worst. To this day I have no idea what happened to my old box fan. I live in a tidy one-bedroom condo so it’s not like there’s anywhere for it to hide... I can’t imagine compounding normal tool losing abilities with kids. Yikes.

Tape is one thing I never worry about. Painter friend gave me 40 rolls of 3M masking tape. I was ecstatic until I realized why he didn’t want them. There is no way to get tape off the roll without it tearing almost immediately. Drives me insane, but I can’t justify going and buying more with 35+ rolls left

cmill189 - sans Volvo > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 14:27

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I’m a lefty but ambidextrous with most tools. Sorry you’re a pleb and don’t posses my super-human abilities.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 14:30

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I may be missing out. I’m a lefty and have never used left-handed scissors. I’ve never really had a problem with right handed ones, they just don’t fit my fingers quite like they were designed to.

However, there are two things I would like to own left-hand specific: A left-handed joy stick for messing around with flight simulator, and a left-handed AR-15. Stag arms makes left-handed ARs, but they’re not cheap. Some day I’ll own a rifle that doesn’t eject shell casings in the general direction of my head and occasionally trap hot ones inside the back of my collar when firing from the prone. Actually, a left-handed 1911 would be pretty cool, too.

Shoop > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 14:32

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Needle nose vise grips can replace nearly every tool in a tool box.

CalzoneGolem > Party-vi 01/30/2018 at 14:32

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Just flip ‘em over son. Little hole on bottom and big one on top. It isn’t rocket surgery.

Another secret ... sometimes I use my right hand!

CalzoneGolem > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 14:33

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Man I gotta pamper myself!

AestheticsInMotion > cmill189 - sans Volvo 01/30/2018 at 14:34

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You’d think I would be too. I taught myself to write cursive and print—legibly and at normal speed—with my non-dominant hand in about a week. Alas, right hand still can’t handle scissors. I bow down to your greatness

CalzoneGolem > WilliamsSW 01/30/2018 at 14:34

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Magic.

CalzoneGolem > cmill189 - sans Volvo 01/30/2018 at 14:36

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We’re like super humans.

AestheticsInMotion > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 01/30/2018 at 14:37

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Try em sometime. You’ll cut better, and if anyone borrows them, you’ll get to take a delighted satisfaction in knowing that the shoe is on the other foot for once.

Years ago I got a beautiful custom recurve bow from a well-known master bow-smith as part of a Craigslist trade. Unfortunately, being a lefty I never got a chance to fire it. It’s been awhile since I’ve shot anything other than a .22. I’m surprised left-handed guns aren’t easier to come by

AestheticsInMotion > Shoop 01/30/2018 at 14:39

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Excuse me while I buy those. I had no idea two of my favorite tools had been combined in such a way

cmill189 - sans Volvo > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 14:41

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It’s very interesting how the brain works. I can’t make my right hand write or brush my teeth to save my life but can shoot, swing a hammer, use a screwdriver, or whatever, no problem.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 14:53

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Fortunately, more pistols these days are coming with at least ambidextrous magazine releases (or at least provisions for swapping the magazine release to the right side of the frame for lefties). A few like FN’s FNS/FNX pistols also come with ambidextrous slide releases also. I’m also of fan of Walther’s trigger guard magazine releases. Those release the magazine by pressing down a lever on the bottom of the trigger guard. They work the same for left and right handed folks, and while not common on weapons on this side of the pond, it really works well once you spend the training time to get used to it. Maybe the biggest downside to being a left-handed shooter is that pretty much every holster I buy has to be special ordered from the manufacturer, as virtually no one stocks quality left-handed holsters for even really common pistols.

I did put on left-handed safety selector on my AR when I built it, which fixes the biggest left handed problem with the platform. With the stock AR/M16/M4 safety selector, left-handed folks have to break their firing grip to deafeat/emgage the safety switch and/or switch from auto/burst/semi-auto mode.

jasmits > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 15:03

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Whichever particular size wrench I happen to need at the moment. All the rest seem to always be there, and I know I just saw it while looking for a different size, but now it’s nowhere to be seen

StudyStudyStudy > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 01/30/2018 at 15:12

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As a lefty, former flight simulator nerd, and fellow rifle enthusiast. All of the above.

My love has always been bullpups, which unfortunately being a lefty means everything is insanely priced if it is amibdextrous or forward or bottom ejecting, or risking taking a bolt to the teeth. Was pretty excited when I found you can put together a bolt action bullpup that won’t risk dental work, quite fun to shoot although it has been a while.

Shoop > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 15:15

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Get a big pair and a little pair. Both are equally useful.

StudyStudyStudy > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 15:16

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Hah a fellow lefty, granted I do write with my right hand. I learned to flip the scissors upside down on the “f you lefties” style scissors that used to be a thing with the ergonomic grips. Still made cutting a pain in the arse. I’ve got about a half dozen spring loaded punches from continuing to misplace them over and over again.

kanadanmajava1 > Party-vi 01/30/2018 at 15:28

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The orange version (the regular right hand one) has been in production for a bit more than 50 years. They have been updated couple of times (leftmost is an original version and rightmost is the current model) but remain still pretty much the same. The left handed red one joined in the production 5 years later.

According to some statistics the Fiskars scissors are the most copied Finnish product.

Party-vi > kanadanmajava1 01/30/2018 at 15:43

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Well this is a neat bit of information.

AestheticsInMotion > StudyStudyStudy 01/30/2018 at 16:07

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Funny how that works. Lefty for most everything, can write ambidextrously, but guitar and computer mouse have to be right-handed. I wonder how a rhd car would feel...

Pistol Whipped Cream > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 16:37

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StudyStudyStudy > AestheticsInMotion 01/30/2018 at 18:49

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They do make lefty guitars, but like most lefty products the market is less than 10% so resale is a bit harsh. I think I still have my left handed compound bow sitting around. I have been in a few RHD cars, but I don’t know if it is because I am lefty, but taking my dominant hand off the wheel makes me feel a bit skittish, shifting is quite nice though.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > AestheticsInMotion 01/31/2018 at 01:21

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I found RHD manual cars almost easier to drive, in spite of years of experience with LHD manual cars. It’s probably easier for us.

I’m a natural lefty, but my grandmother physically beat me for writing with my left hand so I have a visceral aversion to writing with it even now. I do use a right-hand mouse, but that’s also training because when I was younger I would have needed to find one, then I would have needed to carry it because every computer had a right-hand curved mouse attached to it back then. Now we have all these ambi-mice, but the damage has been done.

I’m an ambi-wrencher and I use whichever hand gives me more leverage for tightening/loosening fasteners.

I also shoot right and snowboard regular, but I have absolutely no clue why in either case. My dad shoots left even though he had the same harsh training to write right-handed (my grandmother was crazy and at least three of her five children were left-handed).

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > StudyStudyStudy 01/31/2018 at 01:26

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Which ones have you shot? The only one I have had the good fortune of using was a PS90, which I really liked a lot. The problem is those 5.7x28mm rounds are crazy expensive. Such an amazing design in every way.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > TheRealBicycleBuck 01/31/2018 at 01:29

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Doesn’t one always store batteries in their sock drawer?

StudyStudyStudy > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 01/31/2018 at 14:27

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I love the P90, the PS90 looks a bit goofy with the long barrel, but that is pretty much all we can get unless you go with the trouble of trying to get an SBR for it. The rounds are really expensive.

There were a couple, the Steyr Aug I’ve held and played around with, I believe that one needs a conversion plate to eject shells the other way as well as one I can’t quite remember, but it was forward ejecting. There is a company that does conversions on old russian firearms that I like. The trigger is not very well made nor is the handle, but I was an early adopted. Might have to look at what they have available now.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > StudyStudyStudy 02/03/2018 at 20:57

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The long barrel does look odd from an aesthetics perspective, but I can overlook that for the ergonomics, plus it’s less likely you’ll accidentally shoot yourself in the hand with a longer barrel (it was scary enough to hold with the longer barrel when I contemplated how close my hands were to the muzzle). Even with the long barrel, due to the space efficiency of the bullpup design its exceptionally compact compared to conventional rifles, even fairly small ones. AR-15s are ridiculously huge in comparison and AKs are even bigger. Without comparing in person it’s hard to understand how incredibly tiny they are. I’m surprised they don’t run afoul of some law as long as their barrels are full length.

It looks like, as with all bullpups I’ve looked at, the stock is integral to the design and the ejection port is part of the stock, so it would likely require at least a stock and probably some internals to change the ejection direction.

My FIL & I went to the range today for some target practice with pistols. He just got a new subcompact for a shooting league thing he joined and was having a hell of a time with it (not operation, but inability to hit the middle of the target, as he was always making these tight groups about 6” down-left). The only problem I had was with my inability to pull the slide release on his new gun with my right thumb (it ended up being this super awkward two-handed operation), as it was otherwise remarkably accurate for a double action subcompact... One of those oddball things that reminds me that I’m just pretending to be right handed.

Out of curiosity: Where do you usually go for target practice?

StudyStudyStudy > Eric @ opposite-lock.com 02/04/2018 at 03:58

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Wade’s has a shooting range pretty close to my house, but they don’t allow rifles for non members, so I only go there to shoot some pistol. I’ve gone out to cle elum to shoot, they are much more adherent to the 200ft away from public road and you are good rule. If you call the sheriff’s department they will usually even point out a few popular places. There’s also a nice gun range behind my old high school that is fun to visit every once in a while.