Prompted by a response here, some questions I have.

In sci.electronics.repair, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
60/40 will work, but 63/37 is about the same price and is easier to
work with. Please make sure it has rosin flux suitable for soldering
electronic components. I'm partial to no-clean flux, but the rosin
mildly activated (RMA) flux will work if you clean off the residue
after soldering.

I still have, purchased around 1990, some Archer 64-005 solder. It's
60/40, 0.032" (about 0.8 mm, finer than typical) "rosin core". I'm
running out of it, but that's been my go-to electronics solder since I
bought it. I have a 23W / 33W swappable pencil soldering iron from the
same period (and also Radio Shack). It has served me well, but I have
been thinking maybe time for an upgrade. For one thing, I've never
really been able to work with silver solder easily.

The advantage of 63/37 is what? Just lower melting point? Anything else?
I know it is the "eutectic" point (ratio with lowest possible melting
point), but I don't know if that conveys other desirable traits.

75 watts. Note that it comes with 10 tips. However, I can't tell if
any of them are large enough to solder the #12 wire.

Maybe it herectical to suggest this, but, I'd consider using a big tip
and preheating it with a torch. That is heat the soldering iron tip with
a propane torch and then just rely on the heating element in the iron to
keep it from cooling too fast.

I remember my grandfather's soldering irons, one of which was completely
unpowered and relied on stored heat. (Most of the images for "soldering
iron vintage" at ebay are similar designs.)

Are the typical soldering stations one sees (like the link I dropped for
the 75 watt one above) suitable for basic SMT work? I know for some SMT
you need an oven in order to heat parts unreachable with an iron, but
consider the case of clean removing an SMT LED from a board because not
everthing needs a power on light. I don't have really fine tips for my
current iron, and SMT is not something I've tried.

Elijah
------
has other solder for non-electronics use, such as ballast