The Japanese Pliers I Use For Tightening Plastic Nuts... And Opening Packages
Every plastic nut, screw, and knob in my house is absolutely trashed. Just ripped to shit, some barely hanging on, some long replaced, and it’s all because I didn’t know about plastic pliers. But now I do, and I’m morally bound to share the good news with you.
It all started with my toilet seat, which is perpetually shifting and in need of tightening, but it has plastic bolts holding it in place. Plastic bolts and plastic nuts AND because of the shape of the nuts and the shape of the toilet you physically can’t screw one of them in all the way. I’ve also messed them up by trying to use regular ol’ metal pliers to tighten them, WHOOPS. And you should SEE the tops of the plastic bolts because they look EVEN WORSE. This is a source of shame for me, a person who should and does know better, but an even greater shame is that it took me four years of living with this toilet to Google “Plastic Pliers.”
The minute I saw these Tsunoda Pliers I knew this was what I needed all along, before I even knew there could be a solution to my problem. The pliers are Japanese (so is my toilet!) and come in that fantastic Japanese packaging covered in 7 different fonts in 4 different sizes that just makes everything seem exciting. I hadn’t even opened the package and I was already like, “These are the greatest, they are going to solve everything.”
The plastic jaws slide off and can be replaced if needed
And they kinda did! That one nut that you can’t fully tighten still won’t fully tighten, even with Magic Pliers, but any necessary adjustments are much easier with pliers that don’t absolutely destroy plastic. The handles are super comfortable, and the pliers are spring loaded, as an arthritic handywoman I really appreciate these details. I’m investigating other toilet seat attachment options, because even with my Tsunoda Pliers it’s still not tight tight, but I’ve found myriad uses for the pliers beyond toilet seats. The biggest one? Opening things.
By ‘things’ I mean the little safety topper pieces that come on juice bottles, sour cream tubs, hummus… those absolutely annoying films that are (I guess? Probably?) for our safety but are virtually impossible to remove, even if you don’t have hand mobility issues. I used to dread having to open a new… whatever, but now I just grab my Tsunoda Pliers — which I keep in my kitchen tool drawer — and in a flash, it’s opened. If you don’t have a toilet seat with entirely plastic pieces, these perfect Japanese pliers are still worth it, if only for opening things.
