The homemade tools thread is great
http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/sh...=%2Apurpose%2A.
It has given me inspiration and a heightened awareness in hardware stores, cooking utensil stores, even Salvation Army type places for things to be repurposed in my lampworking world.
Conversely, my "tip" is that sometimes you should just buy that specialized tool you're lusting after instead of spending even more money trying to come up with your own version.