Removal of old components from pcb

[hoodoo]

G'day madbeaners, Matt here. Quick question in regards to the removal of old components from recycled circuit boards. I was given a couple of old amps and stereos, jap made from the 70's/80's and they have a heap of transistors, diodes , ic's etc that i thought i might try to use in future projects.
My question is this, I know that heat can kill ic's transistors etc so i was wondering what is the best way to remove them without killing 'em. I know that there are desoldering stations out there, but i haven't got one of those, and i thought that there may be tricks of the trade that some of you old hands would care to share. I have removed components using braid and a solder sucker, would this work without damaging said components?
I placed an ad in the local paper looking for give away broken older elecrical items and got a good response. The old guy that gave these to me also gave me 3 containers of unused old carbon comp resistors and axial caps at the same time, hoping they'll be good to ad some old school mojo to something 
On that topic, what are the best electrical items to recycle , most useful components?
Thanks in advance, Matt

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

You'll want the transistors, diodes, ceramic caps or film caps. Leave the electros alone. You can take resistors also but that can get tedious for how cheap they are. Sometimes it will be hard to get the solder to "re-wet". Flux will help you very much..put a bit of flux, get some solder on your iron and then use the wick or solder sucker. Be as quick as you can about it and you should be fine.

[lincolnic]

A heat sink of some kind can keep you from frying transistors, too. Even an alligator clip will do, just clip it to the leg you're desoldering.

[hoodoo]

Thanks for the tips guys.
There are a heap of components on the various old pcb's i got that i think would be worthwhile trying to use again.
I see there is a similar question on the forum concerning an oven pcb.
Are there any appliances or other electrical equipment in particular that contain the most sought after bits?
Thanks, Matt.

[stecykmi]

old stereos and audio equipment would probably yield the best goodies. i don't recommend destroying anything that's not already broken tho!