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It's always been expensive regardless of how inflated the dollar has been. Anything made out of metal has always seemed to outrun inflation.

I have a source for some 1/8th inch diameter solder that I've been using that's really cheap (someone who bought a buttload of it as surplus), but it's hard to use when trying to do pretty work. I have to resort to "virtuoso" soldering techniques to do it cleanly with something that fat.

I can get 1/32nd solder, but I don't like it at all. It melts so quickly that I have to heat the area and keep the solder too far away from it until it's time to apply. It actually tends to wilt from the heat of the area instead of even wilting from the flame itself.

My favorite is 1/16 inch diameter solid wire, and it's getting to be pretty rare. I found a guy who sells it in 5 lb rolls for a fairly reasonable price. I've saved some empty 1 lb spools, and I think I'm going to buy one of his rolls and reel it off onto those empty spools.

Moreover, cleaning up is a waste of time. The less clean up, the sooner I can move on to the next instrument or the next part of a major job. I also get these trumpet players with these beautiful silver-plated trumpets who want me to swap out aftermarket parts onto them, yet look as if they had never had parts swapped out on them. ... Or someone with a $25,000 bass clarinet whose floor peg support came off the bell, and the same thing: They don't want any cosmetic evidence of the repair.

You could get a wire rolling mill & reduce the 1/8" dia down to 1/16" probably in one shot since its soft. You'd get 4ft of 1/16" for every foot of 1/8" you feed into the mill. You could even make a really simple rolling mill & mount it in your lathe.

peteedwards wrote: Tue Apr 28, 2026 6:53 am You could get a wire rolling mill & reduce the 1/8" dia down to 1/16" probably in one shot since its soft. You'd get 4ft of 1/16" for every foot of 1/8" you feed into the mill. You could even make a really simple rolling mill & mount it in your lathe.

I suppose. That would be a new skill set to learn.
Thanks for the suggestion.

For the time being, I spent $100 in shipping on a 5 lb roll of what I'm best at using, and will spool it off to small spools when it arrives. This is closer to the amount per pound I paid in the past, though it's still higher, of course. In the past, I would buy two or three rolls at a time that were 1 lb rolls. It's probably prudent - these days - to have 5 lb on hand, particularly when governmental agencies (depending on elections every 4 years) are trying to take away the things that we need to do our work.

I have a huge jug of (real) freon (bought for a low price when alarmists began telling us - years ago - that they were going to deprive us of it). They've prevented me from tearing out perfectly good working old air conditioning systems "just because".
(This is an analogy... I'm referring to lead/tin solder in general, in regards to the analogy.)

There's a stained glass supplier that sells 1lb rolls of 1/16" fairly cheaply (like $20-25 a roll), but it's eutectic 63/37 solder, which means it melts and freezes at the same temp. I've found it to be useful in some applications, like soldering on receivers and tight-fitting joints, but whenever there's any amount of "give" that needs to be accounted for, it's better to have something that you can shape a bit and build up by adjusting your heat if needed.

I'm still working through an old roll of slightly-smaller-than-1/16" 50/50 solder that I use for most applications, but I have a roll of chunky 60/40 1/8" when needed, mostly use that in assembling larger pieces or when tinning braces and the like. The 60/40 behaves a lot nicer than the 50/50.

I also save all the solder "coins" that fall to the ground or on my bench. I occasionally find uses for those remnants.

Mostly, solder that lands on the floor in my shop is the result of pulling bows of tubas and branches of sousaphones apart, and not from soldering them together.

I've been soldering so long that I can solder with a crappy torch and crappy solder, but - just this week - I decided that dealing with 1/8 inch on delicate applications is something I don't need to put up with doing anymore (simply because I found a source for 1 lb rolls of 1/8th inch at an under-$10 pound price).

I'm cheap, but I'm also old and weary of putting up with some stuff - simply to be cheap.

I was actually surprised how much easier 1/16" is to work with... I have a 1/8" roll of 60/40, which is basically a lifeline supply for me. I have to do so much more cleanup with the 1/8" than 1/16".. It night be worth it just to spend the $50 and have a lifetime supply of the smaller gauge.

Eutectic solder is very hard to work with .. for me at least. 60/40 or 50/50 is much more forgiving.

gocsick wrote: Tue Apr 28, 2026 9:57 am I was actually surprised how much easier 1/16" is to work with... I have a 1/8" roll of 60/40, which is basically a lifeline supply for me. I have to do so much more cleanup with the 1/8" than 1/16".. It night be worth it just to spend the $50 and have a lifetime supply of the smaller gauge.

Eutectic solder is very hard to work with .. for me at least. 60/40 or 50/50 is much more forgiving.

This is a 5 lb spool of 16th inch 50/50 that's coming my way.
Whether or not it's lifetime... One never knows, do one?

Part of the secret of we "feshunulz" is that the stuff we use is way the hell easier to use. That said, I'm perfectly happy with a shitty torch, because - regardless of the flame size or the flame heat - my hand seems to automatically know what to do to compensate.

(Truth be told, I use an inexpensive setup that's designed to put out a great deal of heat, yet I turn it way down for most applications, so that I can paint the heat on to the instrument.)
Also, I don't enjoy being tethered to a large tank with a hose.

just received this 5 lb piece of ladies exercise equipment in the mail...

The "other" Shake Weight?