This was posted in another forum I'm on; it covers the bare-basics fairly well. I only have a few minor reservations about it - the main one:
ALWAYS wear eye protection when soldering.
http://andie.se/soldercomic.pdf
Enjoy!
Do specs count as eye protection?
Do specs count as eye protection?
Not in my experience.
Working in a well ventilated are is also a good idea.
I'll see if I can find my safety goggles then, but I'll continue to solder in my lounge.
Safety Goggles are overrated. I just close my eyes. [/sarcasm]
Safety Goggles are overrated. I just close my eyes. [/sarcasm]
I just squint or blink fast, otherwise I'm bound to try and solder to my finger. /srcasm
Ps: They missed the safety step about not soldering while wearing shorts and I think it's safer for begineers if they lable their soldering iron with "this end hot", "Hold at this end".
Lefty
I laid a tower fan (two fans stacked on top of each other in an aesthetically pleasing way) on it's side to blow the fumes away from me and others
I soldered on the floor using a cardboard box as a table and a bit of shredded then fused together cardboard packaging stuff as a cover (because the table box was important).... don't have any of my own space in this house unfortunately
to blow the fumes away from me and others
Ah, but it's not real soldering if you can't smell your work. ;D
It's just flux fumes, irritating to the eyes but not toxic to my knowledge. Soldering gets no where hot enough to cause lead or tin to vaporize.
PS: IANAD ( I am not a doctor) and IANAE (environmentalist). But I have lived to be 63 so far. 
Lefty
Yea, I didn't really know if I'd die from it or not, but I figured either way I won't be doing enough soldering to actually die from the fumes. The fan was more for Hey, I don't particularly like these fumes, they kinda stink and I'd prefer to not breathe them
Anything is better than nothing but if it spashes and can get under your glasses then it won't help.
Read the product warnings.
I ended up writing an article on my website about this comic, with my own additional tips:
http://www.phoenixgarage.org/show_article/117
Goggles or safety glasses are best, but I have found that my large ugly glasses work fairly well. I bought them purposefully because I wanted something like the old-time 1960's engineer's horn-rim black frames. They come close: thick black frames, larger lenses... The clerk at the vision center tried to keep me from buying them; I was looking for something like I wanted, and I asked if they had anything like it. They told me (hesitantly) "yes, but we keep them behind the counter - we call them dateless glasses because if you wear them, nobody will date you..."
I told them I didn't give damn, show them to me. I tried them on and liked them, but they thought my wife (who was also there with me getting her eyes examined and new glasses) would be horrified over my choice (these are NERD glasses - I love 'em!) - they ended up bringing my wife out in the middle of the exam; their mouths dropped agape when she exclaimed how cool she thought they looked!
Glasses like these which cover the whole eye, and part of the cheek, while not perfect for soldering, aren't real bad for it, either.
Now - if you do any acid-core soldering (metal work), you definitely want real goggles, and a fan of some sort; if you think rosin flux fumes is irritating to the eyes, acid-core is much worse - it can be like peeling onions sometimes if you don't have good ventilation.
lefty, it is somewhat caustic and intense exposure for long periods of time has caused lung problems
though its more like in a assembly plant where you would solder 8+ hours a day for 30+ years, but still
and I have never used goggles
and I have never used goggles
Homer Simpson doesn't like them either.
;D