Zahava begged me not to blog about this...

... because it would make me sound nutty.

Sorry, I couldn't stop myself.  :-)

There are certain appliances and tools we use in our day-to-day lives that have remained relatively unchanged for decades.  The can opener in your kitchen probably looks very similar to the one that was in your grandparent's kitchen. 

This amazes me because so many of these ageless tools and appliances are flawed in one sense or another.  Take the can opener example I used:  Sure there are uber-expensive models that work somewhat better, but the standard model that you likely have at home jumps up over the lip of the can 4 or 5 times before you make it all the way around.  And in some cases it may not even finish the job properly, forcing you to improvise with spoons and knives to bend the lid of the can up enough to pour out the contents.

Well, in my humble opinion, no household device is more flawed, yet so universally accepted as the venerable nail clippers that each and every one of you have in your bathroom cabinet.  Without exception these clippers are a challenge to use because they are:

a)  Too small

b)  Too dull

c)  Too flexible (meaning the lever you press down to force the blades together on the nail)

This past year I finally got fed up with crappy nail clippers and started reading online reviews of nail clippers in hope that somewhere out there a company had figured out how to make a decent product.

Enter 'Seki', a Japanese company whose products are sold largely via high end Beauty/grooming companies... as well as Amazon.com.

What all the reviews seemed to stress was the importance of several elements that Seki had mastered:

1.  Slightly oversized to make handling more comfortable

2.  Hand ground/honed cutting edge made from twice tempered surgical steel

3.  (and this is the clincher!) Massive cast iron lever with no flexibility whatsoever.  Even thick nails cut effortlessly with even mild pressure.

I ordered a set from Amazon (I had to have them shipped to my sister's place in New York because for some reason they don't do international shipping on that item), and can honestly say that it is so superior to any other nail clipper I have ever used in my whole life that it seems disrespectful to call it a nail clipper.

Here's what it looks like:


See what I mean?  Similar to what you have at home... but a different animal altogether!  We must have 5 sets of crappy nail clippers scattered around our house.  Yet everyone in the family keeps asking to use mine.

Coincidence?  I think not.

Seriously, go get yourself a set.  I have nothing to gain in all this.  I'm just sharing my view of an excellent product in hopes it will improve your life as it has improved mine.