On Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:50:46 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

I went "shopping" in my Dad's garage again. I have a sticky door at
home and figured I could use a plane to shave it down a hair. The
plane hasn't been used in a long time and has a little surface rust. I
was thinking about scotch-brite, steel wool, maybe noxon. Any better
ideas?

For light rust removal, I use a piece of green or grey scotch-brite with a dab
of oil or WD40, whichever is closest at hand. Paste wax to prevent rust
returning.

For light film rust like on handsaws or large planes I use a razor blade to
lightly scrape the flat areas. Blunt the corners on a stone so there is no
sharp edges. You can scrape an awful lot of the rust off. Be careful not to
gouge the metal. I use one of the razor blade holders Hyde used to make for
scraping paint off of windows back in the day there were wooden windows. With
the heft of it off, you can now sand it, dissolve it with vinegar (don't leave
too long or it will etch), citric acid (I haven't tried CA), Evaporust (good
stuff but $) or get fancy and take up the hobby of electrolysis.

All these are well covered in the Google archive of rec.woodworking, and a
regular google search will turn up a few hundred thousand hits. Here's a great
starting place. Should keep you busy reading for a few hours.

http://www.wkfinetools.com/index.asp


Regards,
Roy