Oh no! My nail clippers are ruined!

What if I were to go to the dollar store and buy new nail clippers, then claim I had sharpened the nail clippers myself?

Oh Seymour, you are a clever devil.

Those sanding rod things are really clever, I need to find some of those. Way more convenient than the old drumstick with a slot cut in it that I use for the same job.

What's a term for already knowing how to do something but also knowing that doing it is a waste of time and money?

A Hobby?

It's not that Japanese nail clippers are any better than European nail clippers, its just that the techniques were developed were to compensate for the poor quality of steel that was being produced in Japan at the time.

In fact, Japanese nail clippers could not hope to penetrate thicker European finger nails and were only effective against the thinner, softer finger nails common to the Japanese. Even the Japanese realized this which is why they employed all manner of other grooming utensils and kept the nail clippers for primarily ceremonial use.

In fact, Europeans were creating nail clippers of equal or better quality for over 1000 years. The vikings perfected the nail clippers and actually produced the most technologically advanced nail clipper that would not be surpassed until present day metallurgy was available.

In fact, when modern, European methods of forging nail clippers became available, the Japanese were quick to abandon their traditional methods in favor of them, which is why you see the proliferation of high quality nail clippers being carried by Japanese soldiers during WW2.