[redeeman]

> Shininess? Who cares.

Those who care about the quality of the solder joint. You need to get a shiny surface, because anything else is a strong indicator that the solder has been contaminated/oxidized, and if it is such at the surface level, it may well be on the contact points aswell. Im not saying its a 100% garantuee, but if you look at failed solder joints, ESPECIALLY handmade ones, nearly all of them are the ones that were not coming out shiny. If its not shiny, its a fail

[tharkun__]

You are correct for lead based solder, you want shiny to be sure. As far as I am aware however, shininess is "not a thing" with lead free solder.