A friend suggested melting the metal in a separate container and then pouring it over the second piece of metal. Which would be a great way to cover a hunk of something cheap with a fancier more expensive metal but I’m not sure how effective it would be at, say, joining two ends of a pipe.
I worked closely with a bunch of Aussies in the later '80s, doing electronics development, and don’t recall a one of them using anything but the “sodder” pronunciation.
Now the question that springs to mind is …were you working in the US or in OZ ?
Cuz if you were in the US it is quite conceivable that they were “doing as the Romans do” … eg when I worked in the States I would never have said “AL-OO- MIN- EE-UM” … back over here I sometimes say “aluminum” and get funny looks.
Here’s an Australian guy that says it a lot. I think there’s an “l” sound in there, but it’s very weak and to my ears pretty much sounds like “sodder”, or maybe “sauder”. It certainly doesn’t sound like “sold-er”.
Probably the same way they soldered things in the 18th and 19th centuries – you use a soldering iron made with a large bulk of iron to retain the heat near the tip, and use a eutectic mixture of metals (lead and tin, for instance) that melts at a low temperature, and use a flux to clean off the dross that keeps the solder from sticking. Soldering was the standard method used by tinsmiths and silversmiths for joining the parts of their metalwork together for quite a long time.
Of course not. One sautés them.
Nice try, but it’s “Lancashire”. 
I beg to differ … it sounds exactly like "sold-er " to my ears … just with an Aussie accent
Ireland: /soʊldər/ SOAL-der
Western Canada. Never heard the l pronounced in my life.
Another Canadian here.
In my first metal shop class (“Industrial Arts”) when I was 11 yo, I made the mistake of saying solder with the ‘l’-sound. Was I laughed at!
(these traumas stay with me)
Canadian Electronics Tech, and we have always said “sodder”. No L.
The same way you’d iron clothes in the 14th century. Onlythe iron would be pointier.
OK, we’ve established that the US and Canada both say “sodder”, and the evidence is strong that Aussies say “sold-er”.
How about South Africa , or indeed any of the English speaking African countries ?
It’s also a class shibboleth in England. Middle and upper classes tend to say gar-ahge, as the Yanks, while working class oiks pronounce it garridge. There’s also something of a Norh-South split. As you say, there’s no consistency in these things, nor should there be. That’s half the fun of language.
Concur with the other Canucks – I have never heard the “l” pronounced – it is always “sodder” (or “sauder”), as in the US.
Canadian spelling tends to follow the British orthography, but pronunciation is more closely aligned with the US. Though there are notable differences in words like “about” and “sorry”.
Some here in South Georgia pronounce the L in solder, but also in salmon, walk, and talk. They are to be ignored.
Which part of Amercia pronounces it that way ?
New England ? New Amsterdam ? New Spain ? New France ?
New Mexico ?
Or some other area dominated by deutch or dutch or Poles ?
Oh my point was that USA is not some sort of extension of UK - Is it a holiday resort populated by England ?
See
The only interesting thing about the the etemology of the word solder is the lost and found “l”. It had the l in latin, the l goes missing, but comes back in MODERN ENGLISH.
solder (n.)
early 14c., soudur, from Old French soldure, soudeure, from souder
How is it like aluminum? We pronounce all of the letters in ‘aluminum’ just as they are written. At least, I do…how do you pronounce it?
Seems another Englishman made a similar observations some time ago…
[Quote=George Bernard Shaw]
It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him.
[/quote]
Same with Beta
US: Baa’ta testing
UK Bee’ta testing.