Rick-Meister wrote:
What you want is called a soldering blanket or a flame arrester. It
has two brass grommet in it so you tack it in place in front of the
wood. In the old days it was made out of asbestos. Today it's made out
of the kind of stuff they use on the space shuttle. You'll find it at
Home Depot near the solder in the plumbing department. Cost is about
$15.

I've done soldering in even tighter spots. But then, I have a few of
those blankets.

Those blankets are great. With a couple of them, maybe slit in strategic
spots, along with some wood for backers, you could basically build a
shield around everything in your way.

Here's a link to what we're talking about:

http://tinyurl.com/4h9m49

BTW - someone else mentioned compression fittings. Here's what I was
told about compression fittings a long time ago:

Learn to sweat. When you sweat a fitting, it'll either leak immediately
or never at all. When you use a compression fitting it could leak at
any time - a day, a week, a year or a lifetime from now. Sweat it and
forget it.