Soldering for DIY Dummies

We were reading some freelancer's attempt to describe a simple plumbing repair yesterday when we noticed that the guy (who claims to be a famous lawyer...) wasn't familiar with how copper pipe is joined. He never mentioned the word "solder," for instance. We immediately sent an intern to the 'net to see what kind of dumbassery the rest of the freelancers have managed to get published. Take a gander at what WiseGEEK.com contributor S. Mithra had to say on the topic of "What Is Soldering?" (now at niche site aboutMechanics.com after a brief sojourn at InfoBloom.com).

It didn't take long for Mithra to get it wrong. In fact, s/he blew it in the very first sentence:

"Soldering joins two pieces of metal, such as electrical wires, by melting them together with another metal to form a strong bond. "

Sorry, S., but soldering isn't "melting them together." Soldering does form a strong bond, but the metal or metals involved do not melt; the solder is what melts. When you "sweat" copper pipe, the melted solder flows into the joint and seals it closed. Soldering electrical components is different, not creating a "strong bond." Instead, the solder acts as a conductive adhesive to prevent wires from coming loose. Soldering does not, as Mithra seems to think, create a "molecular bond."
Mithra goes on to tell us that,

"The process of soldering is tricky and intimidating in practice, but easy to understand in theory."

We don't find it that difficult, at least not compared to something like cutting a mortise and tenon joint or picking a combination lock; but maybe that's just us. We just think it takes patience and attention to detail, but so do most jobs. Maybe we understand it better than S., though, because we know that the claim that,

"...a person performing this technique needs a cleaning resin called flux that ensures the joining pieces are incredibly clean..."

Clean, yes, but "incredibly" so? Naahhh... the point of flux is to remove any oxidation and to improve the wettability of the melted solder. Then again, you don't "melt flux" onto the pieces to be joined; generally you brush it on. Mithra further misinforms his/her readers, claiming that,

"Sometimes, flux is part of the alloy of the wire, in an easy to use mixture."

Ummm, no, you're thinking of flux-core solder: the flux forms a strand in the hollow core of the solder; not part of the solder alloy. And by the way, you said that solder

"...is often an alloy of aluminum and lead..."

...but much, if not most, solder is lead-free these days. Given the shower of misinformation and misstatement on the part of this writer, it's small wonder that the committee voted unanimously to accord  to S. the honor of Dumbass of the Day.

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