Electronics Tips: Surface Mount Soldering by Hand

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My tools for easy surface mount soldering:

Reading Glasses - Helps seeing the small components up close
Soldering Vise - Something steady to hold the board so you can use both hands with the small parts
Fine Silver Solder - Surface mount components don't need a lot of solder, a fine thread helps keep the volume of solder small
Good Tweezers - Placement of the components requires a small gripper
Liquid Rosin Flux - Sticky flux helps hold the component down while also helping the solder adhere to all soldering surfaces
Spaghetti Noodle - Dipped quickly in the flux it provides a accurate tool to apply a small amount of flux to the board where needed (its cheep and disposable).

My tips for easy surface mount soldering:

Use large Surface Mount Components if possible. Even the larger sizes are pretty small and this makes them easier to handle by hand tools.
Hold the board in the vise as flat as possible to minimize slipping due to slope.
Use the spaghetti to apply the flux to the board for each solder pad for each component. A little flux goes a long way. A little between the pads helps keep the part from moving around until you make the first solder.
The first solder of each component is most important as it will hold the part for all others, so take time and it get this first one right.