I've read in numerous places that an ordinary wet dish sponge can be used for cleaning the solder iron tip. I've taken a photo of what the sponge looked like after I cleaned by solder iron tip and shown it below.
The tip burns the sponge, small amount of smoke comes out and tiny black ashes can be seen on the sponge. Is this normal, or am I using the wrong sponge/wrongly?
I'm sure nobody cares about the sponge, I just want to keep my solder iron tip clean properly without damaging it.