That's a good joint Tim if you can see solder come out on the inside of the fitting. That lets you know you got full cup penetration. It's also good to wash the flux off your joints after soldering. Do you ever burn yourself? Mark of a tradesperson is a mark on your arm. Burn marks on your face are not good however.

Lonny, I am not sure if I made myself clear. Sometimes I see solder that has leaked inside and formed a ball inside the fitting..is that still OK? Or might it not cause turbulence when water comes through? Burned my finger yesterday, so far I have avoided the face..:)But it might be an improvement. :) That's a question for a different forum...

I guess I don't recall seeing a ball of solder. Usually the flux floats in and the solder is a layer. I imagine the ball will break loose and get stuck in a faucet. After we do soldering we're supposed to flush the lines to prevent solder chunks from washing into faucets and preventing their normal operation.

Maybe you are continuing to keep the heat too high once you reach melting temperature as you observed.

I'm so perfect I forget how to do things wrong. NOT!

Well that ball seems firmly in place, I could not budge it with a chisel so I am thinking it's there to stay...but???