Duff,

I buy most of my soldering supplies here:

http://www.wassco.com/

They are priced higher than most though:

http://www.wassco.com/Products/Hakko...02-126612.aspx

Just Google "Hakko 936" and you'll get a bunch of results under shopping:

http://www.google.com/products?q=hak...num=1&ct=title

Some of the stores are rated, so it give you an idea how good the service is.

There are some problems with the new lead-free solder, namely the one you mentioned: it melts at a much higher temperature than leaded solder. This makes it easier to over heat and damage componenets. Lead-free solder also can develop "whiskers" which can short to other parts of the circuit. Not good.

tung