Just as a follow up if anyone is interested.

I went and tried Vasile's idea of making a new tip for
my soldering iron. I couldn't find any of the solid wire
suggested (lightening rod stuff) and was walking out of
the store when I noticed brass rods in the plumbing section.
Perfect diameter and about 30cm (1 ft) long. I grabbed a 
couple which should be enough for about 5-6 new ends.
I hammered the end flattish like a blade screwdriver.
Slotted the end with a hacksaw then filed it smooth.
Cut it and put it into the iron and turned it on.

It took a few minutes longer than normal to heat up
even cranked all the way up. I tinned it and dug out
a board with some smt's to play with. I made the slot
too big so I could only try it on some thick film 
resistors. I grabbed it with my tweezers put the iron
over the part and within a half second it was off the 
board! Very quick. I'm going to remake the tip so the
slot is sized for the smaller parts. Once I do that
I will be able to see if it works as well for the
normal smt stuff. If it works as slick for those then
it might save a lot more parts for reuse.

Dave

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