Beginning to pick up soldering

[Pretzel729]

I'm going to pick up soldering because I feel like it is going to be important in my future, and its always good to learn new things(; I was wondering if any of you who have experiences have any advice for a young lad? Just maybe words of wisdom?
Over time I want to feel real comfortable with soldering and maybe one day be able to do all these hardware hacks that I dream of one day doing so that I don't have to wait for software based solutions Plus I have many things around the house that need some resoldering to be done to! but some of them seem too tightly packed for a beginner.
I have my items necessary, just not the "skill" Yesterday I did a simple test, soldered two wires and I swear I was gonna some how mess up and do something wrong and blow up the house -.-

[xstokerx]

lol a couple tips are more heat isnt always better and dont melt the solder on the iron wait for the wire or what ever your soldering to heat up then melt the solder on that and take your time rushing wile soldering just makes a huge mess.

[cerebr_al]

My tip is to get lots of info and demos from Google and then lots of practice on scrap.

I'm sorta in the same boat but on a larger scale.. I've got to weld part of a trailer chasis together and I've got no idea how to operate a welder but after Google-ing the subject for a while I feel confident enough to have some practice go's before attempting the job.

Good luck.

[sosuke aizen]

I took electronics back in school for 7yrs if i was to point out the basics make sure u always clean ur solder iron while soldering with a damp sponge,second make sure when soldering u put the tip on the point u want to solder and then add solder and make sure u have the simplest of tools as a solderer as since ur new ur gunna make mistakes like jumps ect

[AbranaStexe]

Rather, rather

[Pretzel729]

Hmmm.... My tip of the iron looks, burnt. Is it suppose to? And I'm noticing that it's not heating up as fast as it use to. Could it be because of it being "burnt"?