>"** I have seen any number of Russian and Chinese octal valves with >badly soldered pins - the steel wires inside the hollow pins are dry >jointed and can disconnect at whim. This is visible under >magnification."
I never saw this, but then maybe I never looked. One of the things to know is what you don't know. I know I have had tubes with intermittent elements, but it is too late to think back to all of them that were octal.
Becoming inoperative could be caused by any pin and will be a malfunction of course, I mean the screen grid, plate, whatever.
If a tube/valve has good emission and all that but is intermittent, I wonder if that base would withstand a quick dip in a solder bath.