Soldering irons like that were quite common, and you can do a lot of tinsmithing with them as well. Buckets, cups, gutters are all things that used to be soldered together, and there are still plenty of them in use. A farmer would probably have a good number of milk urns that had tin soldered joints in them and do not forget the biggest use was in preserving food, with the original soldered seam tin cans, where the seam and both lids were soldered on.
While the modern ones are either electric resistance welds, or ultrasonic welds, the lids themselves are crimped, using a thin coating that is both a seal and protective coat to the inside. In the old ones the tin coat served the same function, though you could not tin can tomatoes as the acid dissolved the tin, along with other acid food and drinks like orange juice. I have used them in the past, and still have one or two around, but electric soldering gun is so much more convenient, and also does not need periodic reheating. for bigger jobs gas torches are a lot better, but those are more for plumbing and glazing.