Noun
vachette (plural vachettes)
(veterinary surgery) A piece of strong steel wire with the ends curved and pointed, used on toe or quarter cracks to bind the edges together and prevent motion. It is clasped into two notches, one on each side of the crack, burned into the wall with a cautery iron.
I was just struggling with my inner vachette and pondering the depths of my own inhumanity. David Sedaris