My soldering station came with a stand that incorporates a place to put the copper ball, so mien goes nowhere. Still the best tip cleaning thing, beats a wet sponge any day.
What truly scares me is high voltage. I'm glad US mains is only 120V, but even then - I NEVER work on anything without shutting off the breaker first. I'll let the pros be crazy and change out a wall switch without killing the branch circuit first. But what I really mean is tube voltage. It all stems from an incident when I was a kid, a neighbor down the street knew I was into electronics so when he moved away he gave me this huge box full of parts and a few complete items, including two tube radios, one AM/FM and one AM only. Plus this other circuit I never could figure out what it did. There were a few switches and potentiometers, and some large transformers. Just one pair of output terminals, and a lien plug. With my extremely limited test equipment, I couldn't figure out what it did. I forget what the output measured, but none of the controls made a noticeable difference other than what was obviously the main on/off switch. I no longer have this piece, but I suspect it was some sort of frequency generator.
Anyway, the AM/FM radio was 100% complete and worked. The AM radio, the tuning knob was broken off. So I had it powered up and was using a screwdriver to turn the tuning capacitor. Holding it by the well-insulated handle. All was going well until my hand slipped off the handle of the screwdriver onto the shaft. Add that I was working in the basement, standing on the bare cement floor. I now had 400+V going through me. I couldn't move, it was paralyzing me. I could see, and hear - just a few feet away, outside on the patio, my Mom and some neighbors were talking, but I couldn't yell for help. Only after a bit, I started shaking enough that I finally broke contact with the tuning capacitor and was able to move. It seemed like I was stuck there for an hour, it probably was seconds. The only good thing is it was my right hand, so the current was flowing nowhere near my heart. Ever since then - I am deathly afraid of working around high voltage equipment. Even jumpy when discharging the anode circuit on a CRT. And even after grounding it 3 times and triple checking that nothing is plugged in, I'm still jumpy if a wire brushes against me even though I know beyond a doubt that all capacitors are discharged.
I learned the hard way about 120V AC. "Don't stick your fingers in a light socket" "why?" My grandmother had a floor lamp that for some reason had no bulb in it. Stuck my fingers in the socket - nothing. So I turned the switch on the side of the socket and tried again. Oh, that's why. I was probably 2 or 3.