Great post, Steve, and I'm glad to know I'm not alone. My natural reaction when I drop a small part (ALL the time, by the way) is to shut my eyes tight and screech. Much more productive to keep them open and try to watch it.
In truth, I wind up calling my wife about half the time- she has a better eye for these things than I do, and often will go right to it after I have been loking for it for 5 or 10 minutes.
I use small drawers, tiny zip-lock bags, film cannisters, or anything else that will allow me to keep things organized and secure. I too recycle gold clippings/sweeps, and I have a couple of drawers of ivory and mother of pearl cutoffs that I use for beads, inlays, and other small projects.
By the way, my Torit dust collector is up and running, and I am very pleased with its efficiency and its sound level.
Happy new year to all!
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