I was very amazed to see a solution from Hakko that addressed this problem. It is a small metal container that has brass windings inside for cleaning the soldering iron tip. The tip cleaner can be purchased for about $10 dollars from various online vendors or you can do like me and build one.

So I found an old baby food jar and on my recent visit to a dollar store I found a scrubbing pad made of copper. The copper pad is rolled and can easily be unrolled and cut to length. Just shake the excess copper after you cut the pad and stuff it neatly into a glass baby food jar. Set it next to your soldering station and use it for years…

Soldering Tip Cleaning Station