Here's what I did, prior to the BOD changes.
Note that for the first year playing, I only had 3 BOD runners, added 2 in year 3, and another last year.
1. First of all, sort out the BODs you have, by color, and determine which rewards are good, and which are junk. In my case, the "Good" categories are Powder Chance, Colored Anvil Chance, and Hammers Bronze+ & ASH +30 & +60 (included +15s until I got overloaded with them, and got 3 +30s from the blackrock traders).
2. Set up 9 boxes (I use paragon chests, cince they already come in the right colors). Set up 3 bags in each (ring, chain, plate - add more to the iron box if there are ones you wish to fill in the weapons category), with 6 markers in each (top row, 10/15/20 normal, bottom row 10/15/20 Exceptional). Also add an extra book or two in each box; 1 for spares, the other (if needed) for smalls with good rewards, whose large reward is crap (or has no LBOD)
3. Go into each box/chest, then to each bag/backpack in it. Go to each Marker. If the large the marker represents gives a reward you want, put a BOD Book in its place (and name it for the content type: Example, "Shadow Plate Exceptional 20"). If you don't want that reward, remove the marker completely. Do this for every marker. For the extra books that might be in each crate, name one "spare (metal name) BODs", the other the for the smalls you want to keep to turn as smalls (example: "Shadow 10 EX & 15 EX smalls")
4. Take the BODs you sorted earlier, then go through each color, by Box. Put one of each BOD you have that falls into a "keeper" LBOD category, into the corresponding book, and any extras into the "spares" book, to help refill the other book if you complete the other set (or to trade, if you find the opportunity). Put all the smalls with good rewards into the book for turning in small. All remaining BODs should be ones that you don't want, so either junk, give away or sell them.
5. Try to make an effort for at least one run per day with every runner that can get colored BODs.
6. Over time, your books will start to near complete sets.
It's almost as if there is some sort of critical mass one gets to with collected BODs, if you have them sorted by type. I went over 3 years with nothing better than a Bronze or ASH +15, then got 3 gold hammers in a month in year 4. Almost simultaneously, I went from 3 years with no Barbed kits (on 1-4 tailors), to getting 3 barbed kits in a month, plus doubling the number of horned kits I'd gotten in the previous 3 years. Now, with these sets in place, and the sorting system above, I tend to get another gold hammer and 1-3 Barbed kits every 6 months (and 2 smalls from my first Verite hammer), and this was before the changes to the Smith BODs back in November (since then, ironically, I've had a lot less time to do BODs, due to in-game play on my non-crafters).
However, the new changes (especially how they affect 120 Smiths) have made it to where, if I was still following that slow but steady path, plus filling iron junk BODs (which I still do for Gargoyle Picks and new BODs, when turned in by my 120 - just not as much), the increase of colored BODs would go well with ny established collection.
In other words, if you can get a good start on most BOD sets you want, the bods you need seem to follow. In one week, I somehow managed to get 2 smalls and a large tailor BOD I needed to finish 3 different Barbed kit sets (all from 50 cloth BODs' replacements), and the one small I needed to finish my first ASH +60 LBOD. While it's illogical to think so, it's almost as if the system knew what I needed. In truth, it was knowing what BODs I needed, from being able to see them easily, that allowed me to quickly turn those windfalls into their rewards. Had I just tossed the BODs into a couple of books, I might have never realized I HAD the complete sets for the rewards.
