Here's a couple:
I posted this earlier this week in my stock refinish thread but if you are stripping the finish from a stock with checkering use a plastic bristle grout brush when the finish is soft. Brushing with the checkering lines will carry the softened finish out onto the smooth section of the stock where you can wipe it away. Brush with the opposite lines of checkering. Keep repeating with fresh stripper and you don't have to work nearly as hard to get clean checkers.
For you fly fishermen: I take my favorite fly line cleaner and soak a stack of about a dozen 12 guage shotgun barrel cleaning swabs. Put these in a zip loc bag and put them in your fly vest for cleaning your line periodically while at the river, creek, lake, etc. Of course this is most important for floating lines that get dirty and don't shoot as well or float like they should.