Tracking the mysterious 'black stick'

i love how the ex-genii come out of the woodwork to geek out over there lovely black sticks or spudgers or nylon probe tool or just simply "the thing"

Those stanley sticks are actually _exactly_ what Apple uses. I wrote about this more than a year ago on Ungenius.

http://ungeni.us/section/the_queue/disassembling_ipods

I order these by the bushel for my repair business... we go through several dozens each month.

When I had to replace the HDD in my wife's Powerbook, I hit the local AC Moore and bought a $3 set of plastic clay tools. There was a nice wedge tool that made getting the optical drive latches up, successfully.

I have not seen one of these tools, however black color does not mean it is loaded with carbon or ESD safe. From an ESD side, the plastic would have a resistivity in the static dissipative (E5 to E11 ohms) range to be most safe. Insulative can hold a charge due to tribocharging over time. You can transfer that charge to components. Best if everything and everyone is at the same ground. There is a ESD (E7 ohms) coating out there you can apply to make sure. I have dipped a few of my tools in this coating and works great.

When I worked at the MOA and Southdale Apple Stores the geniuses called them 'Widgy Prys'. I have no idea why. Sharp as hell though. I thought on many occasions that one particular genius was going to slip off the edge of an iPod with his pry and stab himself in the heart. (He always held them against his chest for leverage... not so genius)

I work at an AASP and we used to order "nylon probes" directly from Apple because they were way stronger than the cheaper Menda Chino ones that you get other places. They were wicked sweet. Also I liked that the words on them were carved instead of embossed. Now Apple just sends us the same ones as everyone else. If anyone knows where to get the good ones I would be super grateful!

http://www.synaptech.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=75_104

One advantage to using the actual Apple recommended black stick (the one that's the same width from top to bottom with a pointed end) over a guitar pick or credit card is that when you're putting a top case back on a MacBook Pro or Powerbook, you can use it to support the optical drive slot to reattach the internal latches. Back before I was a tech, I opened my own Powerbook with a metal tool and it scratched it up pretty badly.

Keep in mind, if you own banged-up Apple equipment, you can simply laugh at the black stick.

I, for one, pried apart my ancient iBook using the tried-and-true "dinner knife". As a bonus, my iBook now occasionally tastes like butter.

Dell includes an almost-identical tool whenever you get a replacement laptop keyboard.