What the range is made of
Stainless steel, plastic, paper, wood, felt, silicone and rubber, stated where the product states it. Materials matter for the same reason counts do: a stainless tweezer and a plated one are different objects at the same price, and only one of them says which it is.
| Material | Lines that state it | Share of range |
|---|---|---|
| Plastic | 365 | 35.0% |
| Metal | 272 | 26.1% |
| Paper | 218 | 20.9% |
| Stainless steel | 157 | 15.1% |
| Fabric | 153 | 14.7% |
| Wood | 140 | 13.4% |
| Glass | 56 | 5.4% |
| Silicone | 36 | 3.5% |
| Acrylic | 34 | 3.3% |
| Bamboo | 16 | 1.5% |
Counted only where the product states the material. A line that does not say what it is made of is not guessed at.
Why the table has gaps
A material is counted here only where the product states it. Plenty of lines do not, and the honest thing is to leave them out of the count rather than to guess from a photograph. That is why the percentages do not add up to a hundred.
What each material tends to mean in this range
| Material | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Stainless steel | Tweezers, scissors, blades and needles. Holds an edge and does not stain, and it is the difference between a tool that lasts a term and one that lasts a week. |
| Plastic | Badge reels, clips, organisers and party ware. Light, cheap by the piece and the reason a pack of fifty costs what one metal item does. |
| Paper and card | Notebooks, tags, envelopes and boxes. Bought by the ream rather than the sheet. |
| Wood | Pencils, stylus tools, craft blanks and handles. Warm in the hand and forgiving of being dropped. |
| Silicone and rubber | Grips, seals, wristbands and stoppers. Flexible, and the part that usually fails first on a tool that is otherwise fine. |
| Fabric and felt | Caps, scarves, craft sheets and towels. Sold by the set because one is never enough. |
Nothing on this page is a claim about durability we can test. It is what the materials are, and what a buyer can reasonably expect from them.