I want to thank all the people that responded to my inquiry about
cleaning phosphor bronze [131026 MMDigest].  There were many very
helpful suggestions about different products that might do the job and
I became aware of some cleaning products that I did not know about.

I have spent some time trying out these various suggestions and have
discovered that phosphor bronze really doesn't easily clean up the way
brass or copper does except by some type of abrasive cleaning.  As the
little phosphor bronze strips were from spreader boards for the
electrical wiring for the Welte roll changer, they had little "fingers"
punched through that made it difficult to hit with a wire brush wheel.

Fortunately there weren't that many and I first used oven cleaner to
remove the greasy residue left over from the original solder flux and
then used a small brass bristle hand brush on each one, being careful
not to catch (and break off) the little fingers sticking up, which is
where the wire is wrapped around to be soldered.  I have come to the
conclusion that bead blasting, in a basket, would be the ultimate way
to clean these if you have a lot to do, but that certainly is not a
practical method without the whole setup of a blasting cabinet.

Most of the responses I received came to me directly from the
individuals via private email and this made me aware of something that
I myself have been guilty of and that is responding directly to the MMD
author making an inquiry instead of responding to the MMDigest so that
the information can be shared with everyone.

I am grateful for the very thoughtful and helpful advice and
information sent to me, but may I suggest that we fully utilize the
forum we have which enables all of us to share in the knowledge.

Many thanks, once again, to everyone that responded.

Dave Krall