CHAPTER II
The Use and Care of the Soldering Iron. Fluxes. Making Different Soldering Joints
The Soldering Iron.—The soldering iron is one of the first tools a plumber has to master. This tool is sometimes called a "copper bit" as it is made of copper; and so throughout this book the words "soldering iron," "copper bit," "iron," and "bit" are used synonymously. There are several different-shaped irons in common use today, but an iron shaped like the one in [Fig. 13] is the one for use in the following work. Take the iron as it is purchased, having a wooden handle and the copper exposed on pointed end. Before it can be used the point must be faced and tinned. To do this, proceed as follows:
- First, heat the iron on the furnace.
- Second, place in vise and file the four surfaces of the point.
- Third, run a file over edges and point.
- Fourth, heat the iron until it will melt solder.
- Fifth, put 6 or 8 drops of solder and a piece of rosin the size of a chestnut on an ordinary red brick. (This rosin is called a flux.)
- Sixth, take the hot iron and melt the solder and rosin on the brick.
- Seventh, rub the four surfaces of the point of the iron on the brick keeping the point in the melted solder.
