Separating Photo Etched Parts
I use a small (old) chisel with a sharpened blade and support the etch on a metal base - the meaty end of an engineers square works well - just position the chisel and press down. Will go through most tags without distortion of the part. If the tag is difficult to get at, I trim around the waste part of the etch with normal snips and proceed as above.
Just need to keep the blade sharp as they do go blunt quite quickly
The Xuron 9180ET scissors are exellent for removing items from a fret. I do quite a lot of this type of work, or more accurately, my wife does it for me. But both of us are very impressed by these scissors. They have a bypass action which does not distort the part you are removing, and very fine and sharp tips that can get into small spaces. And our scissors are mostly cutting thicker 0.8mm brass or 0.5mm nickel silver.
As for cutters a Xuron etch cutter  is very good (it is now become my tool of choice for the job) or simply numerous passes with a scalpel, quite a few scratchbuilders make their own chisel from a hacksaw blade (but I have always had problems with these and find the force required damages small parts).
A piercing saw everytime.
Any form of chisel can potentially distort the part as it is forcing the two sections apart in its action. The Xuron scissors can also cut absolutely flush with the part to remove all traces of the tag.
For a "cutting surface" I have a piece of Formica (not Melamine!) covered chipboard. This has a tough enough surface, supports the fret without distortion but doesn't blunt the end of the chisel. Mine only requires sharpeningabout every five or six kits. The smooth side of a piece of hardboard would probably also do.
Hi, I use one of two methods I use a scalpel and I also use a Tamiya Photo Etch scissors, which are excellent and available here.
http://www.themodelk...?products_id=34
The instuctions recommend using a Stanley Knife to remove individual chairs from the fret, but I prefer a sharp 1/4"
A modelling knife with a convex blade. Use something hard, like tuffnell to support the work. If you roll the blade along the edge of the work it will cut cleanly and need the minimum of fettling.