Love this!

I made one of these and it worked great.

Going back to single blade only

I really like the idea of the double blade seam rippers but there is a problem with the large end. It is very difficult to use it without chipping off the little red ball on the end. I have tried to replace the existing "red paint" tip with something more useful and I've found a great replacement that is useful instead of just a visual feature. The problem is that in order to get the large end in it needs to be skewed so even with the red paint on it, it gets chipped off on the edge of the clip that holds the end in place. I've tried grinding it down but found that I'm able to improve it but I don't feel that much work should be necessary just to make a product function. I'm switching back to the single blade only, which I still need to do some work on but not nearly as much.

Disappointing

I am very disappointed in this kit. Required blank is too long to drill accurately, especially for inexperienced students. Retaining spring is just pressed in by hand. Spring then either presses further into barrel when inserting ripper or pulls out when removing ripper; rarely stays in position. Removal of ripper takes too much pressure; hard to grip smooth chrome. Made for my mom and a couple of ladies and none had the hand strength to remove the ripper heads. Finally, no provision for indexing the ripper heads so occasionally by chance the head on one end will insert and interfere with the head on the other end causing the little red plastic protector to get damaged or knocked off. The little bit of profit I thought I was going to make was lost many times over while trying to make these things work properly.

tube

I made some and I had a problem with drilling. I drilled with the 8mm bit and the hole is to small so I used a letter O bit and it work fine.

3 made so far

I made these for my mom, sister (quilter), and myself using thuya burl pen blanks. They look beautiful, but I had all the issues other reviewers have reported - wrong bushing size, clip retention, loose blade (1 of 6), slippery ends (1 stuck), and clip binding (1 of 6). That said, they turned out lovely and I could have easily sold one or more of them at the office today. I'm thinking of actually using the too small bushing at both ends in the future because it makes the tips so much easier to pull out by leaving the rings available for gripping.

Makes a great gift, but . . .

Like others, I had some problems with the retaining clip. CA glue solved it. The "sewers" I have given them to love'em. The older gals have a little difficulty pulling the ends out and flipping them around. Maybe a textured pull instead of the smooth chrome? I will buy a few more of the single ones.

SHARP! Both looks and function!

Made this for my daughter awhile ago. Yesterday she told me it's the best seam ripper she has. Says the larger size is easier to hold and use. Extremely sharp! Great kit, assembled easily. She especially likes the hide-away feature...no caps to lose. Haven't had any retaining spring clip problems.

Some easy -to-fix problems

I am in agreement with all of the previous comments. There are some small problems, but most can be handled with a little ingenuity. 1. bushings don't fit both ends properly (flip ends if you need it exact) 2. Retaining springs slide down inside tube (try some CA glue) 3. blades came unglued from chrome handle (re-glue) 4. Blades didn't fit into hole with retaining spring inserted (remove red plastic protector tip) 5. Chrome end slick to pull on and fits very snugly (hmmm...textured surface?) I liked the idea of being able to turn a large handle for easy gripping, perhaps by an older person. Such a person would not likely be able to manage the tight fitting tips, so the feature of closing the ripper is useless. These are a great idea, but need some tweaking.

Seam Ripper Problems

This is a nice gift but I had to work to get the retaining springs to work. They slipped down the tube and would not hold the seam ripper when inverted. I had to glue them to the inside of the tube and I am not sure if they will hold. Also, the plastic tip on one of the kits was not there so this seam ripper will likely snag the material when used. I will not purchase additional kits until the retaining spring problem is fixed.

Nice gift

Enjoyed making the kit and was easy enough! The quality is very good, just a little problem with the spring clips, but anybody with half a brain can get it to work just fine!