Very dirty head cleaning advice needed

[xchg.ca]

Great advises guys ! Tank you
I tried first polishing with the toothpaste!
With some moderate success
But then I located Mothers polish in garage ! And used it and seems to be good !

 

[Numone]

Solvol Autosol metal polish is all you need; it’ll remove all the crud off heads and no, it won’t damage them. This tip was given to me some years ago, by one of the last remaining and very well respected grey-haired R2R technicians in the U.K.

 

[Chip Chester]

I'd stay away from the sandpaper as a solution -- too agressive, and much more so than a polishing-type compound. To figure out what you're up against on a stain/deposit like that, I usually start by breaking off the wood shaft of the head cleaning swab, and scrub with the broken wood end. Not nearly hard enough to damage the head, but it will at least make a dent in most any debris that winds up on a head. Oxide build-up for sure, plus other residue from tapes, like lubricant, mold, etc. Even rust will come off in small amounts.

Dry abrasives and metal scrapers should not be considered for this task, however.

 

[skywavebe]

Everyone has their own solution and some of them may not be all that great. In my shop where I do machines better than 12 hours a day the item I would use is Nu Finish as it is a finer abrasive the Brasso but has a surfactant in it that helps the tape slide across the head. Noxon and Brasso and I have both look to be the same stuff. Brasso is OK to use on the head body but might be too aggressive at the gap area. Nu Finish is a better idea.