No, not the tip, I always took care of it by always tinning it
I mean, the area around it; there are some burnt flux above the tip itself. How do you keep it clean?

I like the brass sponge thing that came with my kit. I jam it in there (gently) and push it in and out just a bit.
That gets a good centimeter or two good and clean. Anything beyond that is really unnecessary to worry about.

>>2924639
bow chicka bow wow

>>2924625 (OP)
>How do you keep it clean?

A copper Chore Boy scrubber works great. Make sure it's an actual Chore Boy branded one. 3M makes similar looking under Scoth-Brite brand. It's copper coated steel and rusts. Steel may scrape off iron plating too. Get soldering iron hot and scrub it.

>>2924639
check with a magnet if it's actual brass
I got one that was just copper coated steel

>>2924639
>>2924715
This
Magnet check first, they often sold copper-coated steel to fool people, and I was one of them.
Copper-coated steel will ruin your tips

>>2924625 (OP)
>I always took care of it by always tinning it
QRD? I never bothered reading up on how to actually care for a soldering iron and just winged it. Now my tip looks like it had pieces eaten out of it by the solder.

Use an iron with replaceable tips. Tin the tip before you use it. Have flux, the mentioned metal scrubber, tinner, and solder on hand. Dive the tip into the scrubber after you use it.

Better soldering stations have active heat control and monitoring. They turn off by themselves when you forget, rather than baking all day and roaching your tip and maybe iron. Knowing where the temp needs to be to flow is also very helpful.

>>2925248
Every time you are done using it, always tin the tip before shutting it down
Tinning is basically just coating your soldering iron tip with some solder to prevent oxidation from building up on the tip while not using it

>>2925258
You don't really need soldering stations for these functions nowadays, a smart iron is now extremely close to a station type