Soldering Guru

As long ago ancient Egypt, man has been soldering metals with a molten filler material. The simplest way to achieve this was the brazier. A large lump of metal usually Copper is attached to a wooden handle that is heated in a fire. The filler metal needs to have a metling point that is lower than the metals to be joined. It is most likly that in those times the filler would have been either Tin(Sn) or lead (Pb).
Clearly this process has limitations for todays micro eletronics.

The type of soldering equipment you use will be dependant on many factors:-
Budget
Availabilty of power
What is being soldered
How much soldering you intend to do.

If you need a portable solution there are several Gas powered irons from Portasol and Weller.
Weller and Antex also do some battery powered irons that run off AA's Clearly these are not for extended use, they should be considered only when power is not easilly accesible.

Simple non temperature controlled irons are available from just about every manufacturer. These are fine for occasional work. However they are simply not powerfull or accurate enough for a big project. Especially where delicate electronic componenents are involved.

When it comes to doing some real work a real tool is required.
All the main players: OK Inds (metcal), Weller, JBC, Antex, Pace and Edsyn can provide proper temperature contolled soldering stations.
In the main these stations will be high power, temperature stable, static safe, most will also have variable temperature. Some manufacturers do this electronically and some by tip selection, both methods have thier benifits.
More info ca be found in all the link section.

Essentially joining 2 metals together with another molten metal should be a relatively easy process. It isn't rocket science; however there have been many rocket scientists that have looked really silly because their soldering was not good.
So what do you need:-
1: The items to be soldered.
2: Solder
3: A soldering iron.
4: Flux
5: A small vice or other method of keeping things still.
6: Solvent.
7: A small inspection lens for microscope (preferably stereo).
8: Somewhere clean to work.