Solder wick

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A solder wick (also desoldering wick or desoldering braid) is a tool for removing solder from any solder joint. Usually, it is a roll of fine, braided 40 or 42awg. wire, typically oxygen free copper, which has been treated with a rosin solder flux.

To remove solder with it, one presses the wick onto the solder joint to be removed and then heats the wick portion that is on the connection with the tip of a soldering iron. As the rosin melts onto the wick and the connection and the solder reaches its melting point the solder rushes (wicks) onto the clean copper braid. Once everything has melted and the solder fuses with the braided copper, the wick is lifted along with the solder and is then cut off and disposed of.

The product was developed after the Second World War by Army Air Corps^{[disambiguation needed]}(probably British Army AAC) technicians who would strip the copper braid from coaxial cable, dip it in solder flux and then utilize it for desoldering.

Today it is used as the most common method of removing solder from printed circuit boards in both surface mount component and through hole component applications.