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So my late uncle was working at Siemens and had a "little" home workshop/lab with resistors, capacitors, ICs, switches, soldering boards, wires and what there is. He learned something regarding radio (german: Nachrichtentechniker I think). Among others there was a self built radio clock (that got quite warm, plugged it out bc of safety concerns)
Now I am getting into microelectronics and roughly know what there is. But I only know that I should not use the leaded soldering tin (bc lead) - is there anything else that is unsafe because of old standards or aging? What should be safe to use?
For the most part, leaded solder is fine and still commonly used by hobbyists (as far as I know), and is actually easier to use than lead-free solder. You can use it no problem, just handle it properly.
Well, how does one handle leaded solder properly, then?
Just wash your hands and don't lick it tbh. People handle much worse on the regular--most denatured alcohols are literally poisoned. People use them all the time directly on their skin and inhale the fumes the entire time, for example. I wouldn't personally work in a lead mine, but a little exposure by touching a bit of it will be fine.
soldering fumes are not lead, they are rosin. Those fumes can still be an irritant
Lick the solder. Got it.
Don't lick, that's dangerous, but nobody said "don't eat 60/40 solder". So go for it. Just remember to put a few sheets of paper in the bowl before taking a dump, otherwise you might break it.
Ventilation
i use nitrile gloves and am careful about solder debris; often doing the work on a piece of cardboard I can discard. I don’t sweep debris onto the floor or blow it away.