[Kevin Sevcik]

One: I'd really recommend just getting a Weller iron or some similar brand name. Most others are just going to disappoint you.

Two: If you mean you're trying to make a butt join, like if you stuck two pencils together eraser to eraser, that's a bad idea. It's better to twist the wire together and get a reasonable mechanical connection first, then apply solder. As far as the actual application, you need to do three things. First, clean the wires (twisted together) and your iron tip. Next, tin the tip with a small amount of solder. The idea is to have a little solder there to increase the contact area with the wire. Finally, you have to heat up the wire with the iron and apply solder to the wire or right where the iron touches the wire. The important thing is to make sure solder "wets" the copper. It should look smooth and flat like a drop of soapy water spreading out on a piece of glass. It should not look like a bead of water that's bunched up on a piece of plexi. If it looks like the latter, you didn't heat up the copper enough before apply solder and you've gotten a cold solder joint that's likely to result in disappointment sometime in the future.