[meatmanek]

Lead solder didn't bother me at first (I had read all the arguments about vapor pressure, solubility of lead, people's lived experiences, etc. Plus, my initial experiences with lead-free were terrible). What convinced me was when I realized how much fine solder dust I was making every time I cleaned my soldering iron tip. More than once I've had the dust from the brass sponge spill out onto my desk and leave a big grey mark.

I've been using some low-temp lead-free solder from ChipQuik in both paste and wire form, and it works perfectly fine for prototyping. It doesn't seem as strong as other solder types, but the low melting point (even lower than leaded solder) means I don't have to stress the chips as much with temperature swings (great for rework), and I can keep my iron cooler, which reduces tip oxidation.