First attempt at conservation

[Patrick Chadwick]

Looks really nice. My question is does this type of process hurt the collector/monetary value of a piece like sanding a stock? Thanks!

What Gilevi has done (and very well too) is cleaning. Rust was never part of the original finish! He has removed what was NOT intended to be there.
But be cautious - to go further and reblue a part is the start of falsification, by adding something - in this case, a new finish. For high-value collector's items, such as WW1 Lugers, adding a new finish is very harmful to the value.
And of course, if parts acquire a new finish and this is deliberately concealed from a prospective purchaser, then the seller has reached the borders of fraud!