Some Things Don’t Change

01/11/2025

Two rolls of 0.5mm solder sitting on a craft mat. The one on the left is brand new. The one on the right is 20 years older and just about used up. The labels read

New and old


I finally got around to ordering a new roll of solder. Yes, I bought leaded solder because screw brain cells, what have they ever done for me?

What I find interesting enough to spend time writing this post about is that I purchased it from the same supplier as the old roll, it had the same SKU and when it arrived it was almost exactly identical. The specifications are now printed in blue rather than black – that’s the only difference.

I bought the old roll 20 years ago, maybe 23. Clearly I don’t do a lot of soldering because it’s taken me that long to get through less than 200g.

I bet the price wasn’t the same, though.