I have to disagree with the above posters about braid. It's one of the best tools in my desoldering arsenal next to a bottom heater/hot air on top type setup. The latter is great for PCB and IC work but not very useful for tube stuff (well the hot air is, the heating plate isn't). But I use desoldering braid often to clean up heavy-handed joints or blobs of solder. The trick with braid is getting the right thickness. I use the fat stuff when I can find it for cheap, but even the "standard" gauge fluxed stuff will get the job done fine. The best way to work with it with big blobs of solder is to not just let the braid sit there under heat, I like to drag the braid through the solder to encourage it to budge. Otherwise, as you guys mention, the wick takes too long to suck up the solder and overheats the work. Next time you're using braid, even if you don't want/need to actually drag it through the solder, just try wiggling it a bit. That little action really helps it do its job better.
Also solder doesn't release lead fumes, at least not in dangerous levels, the smoke that rises is the rosin-core of the solder. The lead content of this smoke is typically very low. IIRC the lead itself won't fume until over a certain temp (900 deg F) and I never work past 850 deg F, what my irons typically max out at. With that said the rosin fumes themselves are somewhat acidic and can cause asthma issues if inhaled for hours at a time for days on end. I don't snort the smoke straight into my nose though, so I really don't stress about any of it
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Cliff Schecht - Circuit P.I.
