My small bits were blued, so I pulled on my nitrile gloves and covered each part (one at a time) w/ Naval Jelly rust remover gel. Blue melts off immediately, used a stiff bristle brush then 0000 steel wool while Naval Jelly was still covering the part. Each part took only a minute or two.
Used sequentially finer sand paper (400 to 800 grit) to smooth out pitted areas, taking care to leave sand marks all running parallel to original sanding or filing direction. Did a final polish w/ semichrome and 0000 steel wool on areas I wanted to "shine up" a bit. (All work by hand to remove absolutely as little metal as possible)
Once each part looked good to me I cleaned w/ spray brake cleaner & dried completely. (clean nitrile gloves on again) I held larger parts w/ needle nose pliers, smaller parts w/ tweezers, and warmed each one up (taking care to heat the entire part as evenly as possible) w/ a cheap paint stripper type heat gun. Only took 2-3 minutes for each part to go from cold to hot enough to begin coloring up.
I've read that 3-in-one oil works well to quench parts. I had an opened container of brake fluid on the shelf though.. been open too long to use in the car, so.. Sure enough, it did fine. Just filled a glass tumbler half full (don't tell the wife) and dunked each part in once it was a nice honey color.
The absolute beauty here is that this colored surface is so very thin that it's easily polished off if you end up going darker than you intended. A polish w/ semichrome brings you right back to bare metal to start over again if you need.
Obviously wear proper eye protection, work only in a well ventilated area, don't stick the heat gun in an eye, carry an umbrella at all times, blah.. blah.. blah..
Honestly, life sized in the hand these parts look nicer than they do enlarged on screen.
Anyone with enough sense to know which end of the tube the round comes out of can to this.
If
I can do it...
