Entomological Forceps

 

As I tend to work on very small insects I normally dissect using stainless steel pins, but on occasion, a pair of forceps are useful too. For my purposes they need to have superfine tips and that means they have a limited lifespan, however careful you try to be with them. (Pro-tip: you can carefully regrind the tips with a fine carborundum stone, but they're never as good as when they're new.) The universal recommendation is to get Swiss-made Dumont forceps, but averaging around 30 quid a pair and bearing in mind the lifespan I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Watkins and Doncaster will sell you a cheap pair for 11 quid, but in the end I picked up a Japanese-made set of five for the same price on eBay. 

I still have and occasionally use a few of my grandfather's woodworking tools, which given that penny pinching runs in my family were probably not new when he acquired them, are something like something like 150 years old. I hate the idea of disposable tools and appliances, but the economy gene is dominant in my phenotype.