Insect Pins

Black enamel or stainless steel? They are identical in sharpness, diameter & length but there are important differences.

The black enamel ones are made from spring steel & are coated with a rust resistant lacquer after they have been cut. For soft bodied insects this should be fine, especially for student use or if you are using them to ream out holes & then dispose. They are not recommended for hard bodied insects since the coating can scratch off & the pin will rust eventually.

The stainless steel ones can be used for all insects & applications whether they are permanent collections of insects or textiles or any other material that you don't want to be disfigured by rust.

Note: 25mm=~1". So 38mm=~1.5"; 50mm= ~2"; 1/64"=0.015".

Here is a very complete Guide to Arthropods. It describes life cycles, techniques and more.

An excerpt from the USDA Guide for Insect Pinning (no longer on-line) had these suggestions:

In section 3.1 - Preparing Dry Specimens for Mounting, the guide discusses some basic insect preparation:

"Any dry insect that is to be pinned must be relaxed.... a relaxing chamber usually will make this procedure much easier."

To this end, we offer a simple solution involving petri dishes & filter paper. All you need is to put some sort of support under the filter paper.

Insect pins are handy for making pinhole cameras but results are very dependent on the diameter of the pin.

Pinhole Image of Flower Courtesy Dan. P. Seattle, WA.