Lead Free Solder.

bazzabear said:
Sorry this is not a helpful response, but you just popped a memory up in my head, so I will share!

When I was a teenager, I had a Tamiya RC car, and the solder to the speed controller was always failing, so I got myself a soldering iron so I could fix it myself. Went to a local hardware store for some solder. This place was like Aladdin's cave. Run by an ancient guy who sat in front of a paraffin heater all day waiting for customers. The stock was all over the place, but he knew exactly where everything was.
Anyway, asked him for some solder, expecting to be handed a reel of wire. What actually happened was he produced a bar of metal, sawed a couple of inches off the end of it, and sold me that. I was far too shy to argue, so I bought it - and I think it only cost about 20p. Never worked out how I was supposed to use it with a soldering iron though. Maybe I was supposed to melt it in a crucible or something?
Click to expand...

When plumbing water and gas systems they used lead piping until quite recently, maybe they still do so for some situations. When soldering it with a blowlamp you used a bar or stick of solder as you describe and wiped the molten solder with a moleskin rag to get an elegantly smooth fillet. I guess I can still do it, but I have not had cause to do a wiped lead joint in many years...

That was the commonest use of solder bars, but automotive bodybuliders used them for leading over panel joints as it was more durable than synthetic fillers.
 
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