Keyboard In The Wilderness wrote:

Advice from several gurus as garnered from the news groups over time.

For cleaning aluminum tubing, an antenna guru recommends the use of #0 steel
wool, along with dishwashing detergent. . .

I've read that using steel wool will result in tiny pieces of the steel
being left embedded in the aluminum, resulting in long term pitting and
corrosion. Is that an old wives' tale, then?

Roy Lewallen, W7EL