Glad it's not just me that has had this problem. And, yes, I tend to find I do a neater job with lead-free too.
Two known defects with my soldering technique are using too little flux and too little heat. With less flux you get less running and with less heat you often cook the fitting/ burn the flux before the solder starts to run. Which could be what you are doing. I've found that a nearly empty gas can gives less heat for a similar size flame...?
Possibly as a result of my shoddy technique, my preference in fluxes is (in order): Fluxite, Yorkshire Flux, Everflux, LaCo.
Two known defects with my soldering technique are using too little flux and too little heat. With less flux you get less running and with less heat you often cook the fitting/ burn the flux before the solder starts to run. Which could be what you are doing. I've found that a nearly empty gas can gives less heat for a similar size flame...?
Possibly as a result of my shoddy technique, my preference in fluxes is (in order): Fluxite, Yorkshire Flux, Everflux, LaCo.