At Bitesize Bio, Jode Plank shares some "lab hacks." He says that butane torches, infrared thermometers, and strap wrenches, all from the hardware store, can come in handy at the bench. He uses the torch to "[flame] bubbles off the top of freshly poured plates" and as a "as a portable Bunsen burner." Plank uses the thermometer to monitor to the temperature of agar as it cools in a flask and the wrench, well, to open stuff without looking for the burly guy in the department.