I have a temp controlled soldering station. On the top of it is a
metal tray with a small dry sponge on it. I thought it was asbestos or
something to wipe the excess solder off the tip.

I was going to show my daughter how to solder, and she got out the
kit, took out the sponge and wet it with water. Now that never
occurred to me (stuff like this is why we have females in our lives).

So, my stupid question is: Is one _supposed_ to dampen the sponge
while using the soldering station? My forst thought was that leaving
that damp thing there is eventually going to rust the tray, but what
do I know?

Willie K. Yee, M.D. http://users.bestweb.net/~wkyee
Developer of Problem Knowledge Couplers for Psychiatry http://www.pkc.com
Webmaster and Guitarist for the Big Blue Big Band http://www.bigbluebigband.org