New Member ... Restoring M1 Carbine.....

[INLAND44]

and use it to scrub the rust off. It works as well as steel wool but is nowhere near as bad for the finish. Dip it in Kroil and just gently scrub.

Now that is a heck of an idea!

[ChipS]

FWIW, as noted here previously, for many years I have used hardware store Liquid Wrench penetrating oil and old, used up bronze bore bruhes to de-rust blued and parked surfaces without damage to the original finish. When done I wipe the surface with Hoppe's No. 9 to safely remove all bronze residue. It has always done a pretty good job for me at minimal cost but I think I will try the Kroil. A lot of people are singing its praises.

As far as steel wool, I do rarely use 0000 steel wool very gently with plenty of oil to clean very light surface rust from more highly polished blued surfaces. I don't like it but I do it - very carefully. I don't think steel rubbed on any finish is generally a very good idea. I would never use steel wool on any parkerized finish that I wanted to retain. JMHO

[imarangemaster]

At one time I found some "bronze wool" which was great for removing rust without messing with the finish. I used WD40 and the bronze wool. It is was really stubborn I used liquid wrench instead of WD40. I haven't been able to find a source locally for the bronze wool in a long time, though.

[ChipS]

I haven't been able to find a source locally for the bronze wool in a long time, though.

Ditto.

[nsmi]

I used this and soaking in oil to get light rust spots off the barrel of my PMC M1: www.big45metalcleaner.com

[jimb16]

They often have bronze wool at paint stores. That is where I usually find it.