I grind up old , worn out , triangular files and make scrapers out
of them , handy for deburring and removing excess solder . Also I use
the metal from worn out engine valve stems to make bezel pushes and
lots of other tools , its hard and strong and handy sizes , just cut
to length and grind a shank for a handle ! Thanks for a great site ,
I’ve found lots of helpful stuff on it . Philip Wells in sunny Nelson
wellsie@xtra .co.nz
What a phenomenal thread!
Thanks for the dental floss and cab tip - I’ve used it four times
already!
I use those plastic containers that 35mm film comes in for all sorts
of things. Go to any quick photo place and ask, they usually throw
them away after processing. I asked and got about a hundred which
are stored in a plastic shoe box until needed.
The little dishes they use in Chinese restaurant for sauces. Got
about 20 for $.10 a piece at a garage sale. Great when you need
something small to hold a small amount of liquid, for orgainzing a
project or sorting parts.
I bought a 6" sq metal lazy susan part at the hardware store years
ago. Just realized it was great for putting under my soldering
block.
Kraft Pimento cheese jars. They are the perfect height for lots of
small hand tools, saw blades and such. I keep four of them in a
narrow plastic rectangular container so they don’t fall over. I eat
way too much of this stuff 
Small frozen food trays for storing preforms and cabs in various
stages of completion. The rectaugular ones are best.
Small Tupperware container with lid for storing paste solder.
Exactly the right size for four tubes. I store it close, but not
under a bench light so it is always just barely warm. Have been
using the same tubes now for almost four years. Obviously, I don’t
use it as much as I did when I first discovered paste solder and was
so enamored with it
Small, short plastic containers, about 1 1/2" dia by 1/1/2" high,
with lids. Sold in craft stores for storing seed beeds. These are
the perfect height for storing solder chips in various sizes and can
be marked with permanent markers.
Those steel rods you find in hardward stores, usually in the cement
area. I cut them in various lengths, then file, polish and buff
them for an odd assortment of tools.
Nancy
Bernardine Fine Art Jewelry
Your local art store has a multitude of really useful objects. I use
the little plastic trays with the hemisphere depressions ( I think
they are used for mixing watercolors) to sort diamonds and other
small stones for layout. You label each depression with a sharpie pen
as to stone size and then just sort… I also use them to keep stones
in order after the layout as I am setting. they also work great for
solder trays if you are using clipped pieces of solder. Frank Goss
I’ve just remembered one.
To remove fire scale from a sterling surface hand polish with one of
the proprietary liquids used for polishing a car - the type that
“cuts” the enameled surface and reveals a lower layer of paint.
I’ve seen a foolish friend reveal an area of naked metal using this
stuff and it is surprisingly aggressive - but when I was
silversmithing it saved my life once when I was making a teapot that
had really bad fire scale. I’d annealed without covering the article
with flux.
Tony Konrath
Gold and Stone
http://www.goldandstone.com