Actually, it was staring me in the face every time I washed my hands
My so simple solution was to use a pumice block. The kind ladies use to remove callouses from the soles of their feet. Mine happened to have a stiff brush on the top and I bought it not for the pumice but for that brush to clean my finger nails.

Here's what I did. I wet the top of the head with water and then sprinkled baking soda all over. I soaked the pumice block in water and then dipped that in the baking soda.
Using small circular movements I went to work on the gasket material that was baked into the head. It came off in no time and with no hard rubbing. It just wiped off.
I followed that up with a wet cloth rubbed on a bar of Lava soap (also containing pumice) and that was that. Washed it off and oiled up the cylinder and it's now waiting to be honed.
Here is a shot of my cleaned head.
Edited by scooterspal, 02 August 2010 - 06:04 PM.
















