I am not exactly sure what I am doing wrong, or if I am even doing anything wrong when I solder. I have a Weller WES51 with a PES51 pencil, and the tip that comes with it. I usually have the station set to between 500-600 degrees fahrenheit, and I believe my soldering procedure is correct. I make the tip contact both things I am soldering together, and apply the solder to the other side of the joint. I pull both the tip and solder away when there is enough solder on the joint, and it has flowed smoothly. I don't own separate flux, but I do have multi-core solder. This is what I am worried about:
Is that black supposed to be there? Does the tip look tinned to you? The solder I am using was my fathers when he was in college about 25 years ago, could that be the problem? This is the solder:
I have only used this soldering equipment 3 times and I don't want it to deteriorate faster than it needs to.
Also if you can't tell, I am extremely inexperienced. This year as a Junior in high school has been my first step into electronics as a hobby, and I want to make sure I am at least attempting to do things the right way from the beginning.