Old timer told me to never use a wire brush on clay flue tiles, glad I listened

So I was working on a house built in 1920 last week, doing a level 2 inspection before the homeowners could use their fireplace again. The flue had this heavy black crust that looked like it needed a serious scrubbing. But an old sweeper I met at a trade show in Portland told me specifically "wire brushes will scratch glazed clay tiles and ruin them, just use a poly brush and some chemical cleaner if you have to." I almost grabbed the wire brush out of habit but stopped myself and went with the poly one instead. Turns out he was 100% right because the tiles were original and already had some hairline cracks, a wire brush would have made them way worse. Has anyone else had a close call like that where you nearly made a costly mistake but someone's advice saved you?

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