Jacot tool DL*pp Rusty runners

[valleyguy]

I got an old jacot tool of ebay at a reasonable price, it was a full set no missing parts, i think it maybe French or could be Swiss it as DL (then a star) PP on the brass body,  i got lucky there was no damage to the lanterns or the beds they look in good condion, there was surface rust on the steel runners, i've tried to clean it off with tin foil first then wire wool sprayed with wd40, i've made the runners smooth so they will slide into the jacot body, i can still see grey rust mark stains were the rust was is there any way to get rid of the stains by hand as i don't want to damage the lanterns or beds.

I've already cleaned the brass parts, they've come up nice without the decades of tarnish they look nearly new, just need to sort the runners.

 

[nickelsilver]

I would leave the stains. Most methods of removing them (completely) will remove metal as well, and that's not a good thing. If you want to try to get them a little better without hurting them, around here we have stuff called Metarex, which is cotton soaked in some kind of metal cleaner. I think Never Dull is similar. Metarex is really good at getting off light rust, and I think you'd have to spend a month rubbing it full time to remove any measurable amount of metal. It must have some sort of slight abrasive, but it's so mild it is harmless.

[valleyguy]

Thank you nickelsilver, I've ordered a can of the Never Dull, i didn't want to use my buffer on them in case i slipped and damaged the lanterns, they've managed to survive this long i didn't want to be the person who wrote them off.

[nickelsilver]

Most of my machines have rust stains on them somewhere. Not rust, just the dark steel left once the rust is removed. Definitely better like that than "all cleaned up!" and no longer precise, haha. The Metarex is great, curious how Never Dull is, but it looks pretty much the same.