When I say explode, I mean the tip shot bits in a 1-2 inch radius after I put pressure on a thick copper wire. It nearly hit my non-dominant hand which was holding the circuit board on the floor tile I used to isolate my soldering shit from the now singed table
Would it help you to know it was the soldering iron my dad got when he finished his electrician apprenticeship in the early 80s, which was probably a decade old at that point