Man that's a bummer about the Hakko. I've noticed this same pattern with a lot of hobby tools and kitchen gadgets. People get sold on some fancy new thing and it turns out the old simple way works just as good for most everyday jobs. My neighbor bought one of those expensive smart thermometers for grilling and still just uses a $5 instant read probe 90 percent of the time. Sometimes the basic stuff that's been around forever is popular for a reason.

Yeah the flaking thing is such a nightmare. My old tray started shedding little black specks into everything and I didn't even notice until I found a piece in my eggs one morning. Switched to silicone last month and it's way less stressful honestly. Just throw it in the dishwasher and done. No scrubbing, no worrying about scratches, no random bits in your food. Kind of wish I did it sooner but better late than never.

Grabbed that old KM 37 on a bridge job too, thinking it was bulletproof cause it had been around forever. Neck seal gave out on my second decent down and I had to abort the whole dive. Learned real quick that "broken in" just means "worn out" sometimes.

Wait linda_wood just THREE failures total from all that? That's wild.

Seems like overkill to me. I still just use a pair of pliers and some patience, never needed heat or lube for those things.