I have come to have a Model 12 built in 1914. It really needs to get cleaned up, and get a lot of surface rust removed. What is a good way to remove the rust without removing the remaining blue.

Well Mike,

I'll tell you what I've done in the past. I've soaked the piece in "Liquid Wrench" for up to a month (depends on how bad the rust is), and then scrubbed off the rust with hard tooth brushes. For localized rust spots that are harder than the brush can handle, I'll scrape off the rust with pop sickle sticks or dixie cup spoons. The wood is softer than the metal so it won't scratch, but will work at most of the rust. For really hard pockets of rust I've used a brass case mouth to GENTLY scrape at the rust and loosen it so the brush and stick will work better.

When finished removing all the rust I'm able using this method, I'll librally spray the piece with Breakfree and let it soak for some days. There after once a week or so I'll scrub the piece with the tooth brush and soak again with Breakfree. I'm here to tell you that this is a time consuming process, and will not remove all the rust. However I've yet to find anything else that works as well yet does not remove what blueing is left.

Regards,

Eric