Why am I so bad at soldering?

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

I have read several guides on the internet on soldering but I still can't seem to get it right. From what I understand, I shouldn't touch the solder to the iron to melt, rather I should heat up the wire and touch the solder to the wire for it to melt.

But even if I leave the iron on the wire for a long time, it never gets hot enough to melt the solder!

What I end up doing is melting a blob of solder on the wire and then smoothing it out with the iron.

Any tips? What I'm typically soldering together are two wires that have been cut.

Thanks in advance.

you need to "wet" the iron- hold the iron to the wires and touch the solder to the iron.. this coats the iron with solder and it will start to flow into the wire.. now touch the solder to the wire and the heat will be sucked into it and melt perfectly. works everytime

[cdeal28078]

You need to hold the heat to the opposite side if the solder for a good joint otherwise it will be a cold soldered joint and might not hold up. The newer solders are harder to use but I still have about 50 pounds of the old stuff. I can't imagine how much I have soldered back when I was working on the Hydro generators but it was big connections and nothing like we are talking about. I always tin my wires before trying to solder them together then all you really have to do is either wire them together with tinned wire or hold them together and heat them up. Once they get to temperature they are pretty much done except for maybe another dab of solder melted into the joint.
Clint