Black Stainless Steel Tweezers (Simply Essentials)

These are Simply Essentials tweezers. They come in a nice case with microfiber lining.

They're constructed of stainless steel, with a thick powder coated finish.

The overall design is quite ergonomic, as the enlarged portion near the knuckles provides added support and control.

The tips taper down to needle points, and they are perfectly aligned.

The stainless steel used in these is fairly high quality, and does not flex or bend easily, which commonly happens with cheaper tweezers.

I am using these for electronics work, as they offer much more precision than my old tweezers. The fine points allow for better placement of components, which makes soldering a lot easier.

I know they are not "ESD safe," but to be fair, most equipment that is marked "ESD safe" just uses static dissipative materials. The poweder coating on these is more than sufficient, especially if using a grounding band or ESD work surface.

You can pick up a pair on Amazon.com

Technique Handpiece

This is the Technique Handpiece. It's a specialty handpiece that fits flex shaft systems with the standard quick connect design.

It is a quality tool, finely machined in Switzerland. There is a quick change lever, tapered tip, and deep collet. The collet is adjustable, and can be replaced with a few different sizes.

This is my favorite handpiece for working with 1/8 bits. The quick change feature is much better than using a pin/wrench or Jacob chuck. It runs very true, and has less vibration than my Foredom handpieces. Using a pencil grip allows this to be held with the fingers right up against the bit.

The only oddity I noticed, is that at very low RPMs, the tension from the quick change spring causes it to lock up a bit every 180 degrees. This is quickly overcome at about 2000 RPM or so. I usually run at 5-12K RPM, so this is a non-issue.

In this video, I take it apart to adjust the collet, which is a bit of work.

Trauma Shears (Surviveware)

Trauma shears are an important component in any first aid kit.

Life threatening wounds demand urgent care, so it is important to be able to stop bleeding and dress the wound as quickly as possible.

These shears cut through fabric with little effort. They make short work of most material, including thick denim jeans, canvas, cotton, and the like.

They are sturdy, and the pivot can easily take the abuse from cutting through multiple layers at once.

I packed mine into a small first aid kit, which is stored in the front pouch of a backpack, along with bandages, tape, and a tourniquet.

The overall build quality and design is good. The ergonomic handles allow the index finger to be placed outside of the loops for increased torque if required.

The blades are heavy duty stainless steel, and are reinforced so that they won't break when forced through heavy material. They come oiled, and have a black non-stick coating to preserve the blades in storage.

You can pick up a pair on Amazon.com

LE Head Lamp with zoom/focus

Good hobby light from Amazon.com. It was just under 10$. Works fine for doing detail work, as the beam can be focused to a small spot, which makes it really easy to see into tight spots like cylindrical barrels and the like.

For some reason it doesn't have padding on the front side that touches the foreheads. I ended up just cutting a piece of foam and gluing it on there.

Hobby/Craft tools

What tools do you use to work on your small projects?