Originally Posted by
FBinNY
One handy DIY tool every bike mechanic should own is a balled rag or sponge on a string with a nut or weight on the end. You soak it in oil, and push it down the seat tube before doing any work there, throwing the nut in behind it. This keeps debris from falling into the BB. When finished turn the frame over so the nut falls out and pull out the rag out by the string to clean the tube.
You see now, that seems obvious when I read it, but I'd never have thought of it on my own and would undoubtedly have ended up cleaning up a mess instead. Clearly you are from the old school of the mechanically inclined - my mechanically-brilliant father-in-law drops these kind of tidbits on me all the time. Is that just the voice of experience speaking, or is there some fantastic resource I can go read somewhere that will learn me up in these ways?