On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:55:24 +1100, you wrote:
>I thought Wikipedia would have the answer, but it does not.
>
>I'm guessing it predates soldering - as we have clothes "irons" (which
>may have actually been iron (wikipedia again deficient)) and the
>phrase "strike while the iron is hot" - which I take to mean a
>branding iron and they usually are iron 'cos that's what guys on farms
>have handy.
Clothes Irons were iron, you wanted weight as well as heat. Strike
while the iron is hot has more to do with blacksmithy than branding
cattle. Why "strike" a cow?
>
>Just a generic phrase for hot metal from back when there weren't many
>around?
>
>It's also just occurred to me that you'd want the handle to be iron
>because it doesn't transfer heat well, and it's probably a bit hard to
>fuse iron and copper manually.
>
You want the handle to be wood, which is an insulator. Soldering
"coppers" are such because the copper can be tinned, which ensures a
better heat transfer from a compatible metal (tin/lead).
Harvey
>PG
>
>On 16/10/2009, at 7:38 PM, Stefan Trethan wrote:
>
>> BELL SYSTEM PRACTICES
>> Plant Series
>> SECTION 075-160-301
>> Issue 2, August, 1961
>> AT&TCo Standard
>> SCREWDRIVERS
>> SELECTION, USE AND MAINTENANCE
>>
>> <http://www.telephonecollectors.org/DocumentLibrary/BSPs/075Division/075-160-301.pdf
>> >
>>
>> Quote:
>>
>> <Do not stick a screwdriver in either the
>> flame of a furnace or torch, or a pot of hot
>> solder, as this will destroy the temper of the tool.
>> Never use a screwdriver as a substitute for a
>> soldering copper.>
>>
>> This is the only reference to a soldering copper I have ever seen, but
>> it immediately caught my eye since I always thought iron is the wrong
>> name.
>> Anyway, it's just odd that they would use a name that doesn't appear
>> to exist anywhere else.
>>
>> ST
>>
>> On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 9:54 AM, AD5VJ Bob <rtnmi@...>
>> wrote:
>> > No not sure, it has been a while. Could have been copper though I
>> know it heated up really fast and stayed that way for quiet a
>> > while.
>> >
>> > Bob AD5VJ
>>
>
>
>
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