Abseiling Tips & Tricks
It's important to recognise that this isn't 'Abseiling 101'. The fundamentals of anchor selection, rigging, using an abseil device and protecting yourself if you encounter problems are best learnt practically from someone with experience. However, assuming that you've some experience of organising your own abseils, this might be worth thinking about.

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Build yourself an abseil device - cowstail thing
Always use a back-up prussic when abseiling. If you attach your prussic back-up to your leg loop there is a risk that were you to get knocked out, pressure would be put on the top of the prussic by the abseil device and the prussic would fail. One way around this problem is to extend the abseil device away from the body using a short sling. Taking this a step further gives us the arrangement shown in the photo. A 120cm sling is larks-footed to the belay loop on the harness and an overhand knot tied around 20 cm from the harness. The belay device is clipped into the loop formed between the overhand knot and the larksfoot. A screwgate krab can be clipped to the end of the sling and used as a cowstail for security whilst threading the rope into the abseil device and sorting the prussic. Once the abseil device is threaded and prussic is on it's a good idea to do a short (few cms) test abseil to make sure everything is working properly before removing the cowstail from the anchor. The cowstail krab (green in photo) can be stowed out of the way on a gear loop whilst you're abseiling. This sort of arrangement is very handy when you're doing multiple abseils as you've got a permanent cowstail that can be used to clip into anchors.
	How to get your ropes down the crag when it's windy If it's windy, throwing your ropes down the crag may not be an option. One of the worst places for this is Western Gully on Dinas Mot, the standard descent after doing routes on the Nose. Often you're throwing your ropes directly into a westerly wind and sometimes you're doing well if they go ten feet before diving between the rocks in the bottom of the gully. The gully that you're abseiling down is at a very gentle angle and there's loads of things in the bottom for ropes to get caught on. There are a few options in this situation. If you've got a rucksac you might decide to stuff the rope into that (starting with the knotted ends). Attach a short sling to the rucksac and hang it from the belay loop on your harness. As you abseil the rope just feeds out of the bag. If the angle is very gentle you might be better attaching the rucksac to the side of your harness with a krab as it tends to drag on the ground and get stuck.
Another method to try is coiling the rope around your body (see pic) and flicking the coils off as you abseil. Set up the abseil as normal and take coils across your body starting from the end of the rope. This is important. If you start with the end closest to the anchor they won't run off. As you abseil you stop, flick off a few coils and abseil a bit more before stopping and flicking off more coils. Finally, you might decide to lower the first person down and then everyone else abseils after them.
Look after your anchors and rope - don't bounce When abseiling you can minimise the load on the anchors by abseiling smoothly. This is a very good thing. Cavers and rope access types have found that a jerky abseil technique where the abseiler is rhythmically bouncing on the rope can double the force on the anchors. Ascending a rope using a bouncy technique generates even more force on the anchors. The logical conclusion of this is that the worst-case scenario is a heavy person ascending a short rope (less rope to absorb the forces) with a bouncy technique. It's very important to protect your rope from sharp edges when abseiling. A bouncy abseiling technique, particularly on dynamic climbing rope can cause the rope to saw over an edge. At best the rope may be damaged. At worst it may be cut.
	Always tie knots in the ends of your ropes If you can't see that the ropes reach the ground then always tie knots in the ends to prevent you abseiling off the end. A figure-of-eight pulled fairly snug is a good option. Always leave at least a forearms length of tail below the know to prevent the knot from shaking off the end of the rope.
	Add friction when abseiling It's sometimes useful to be able to add friction to your system when abseiling. You might want to do this if you're wearing a rucksac, your ropes are wet, icy or muddy or you're using a particularly slick belay device. There are a number of different methods but one of the best is to use two belay krabs rather than one. The friction is added because the rope is in contact with more metal. Makes a big difference.