I seem to remember reading something somewhere (maybe here) about using pencil lead to detail very light rust.

So when I picked up a 1917 vintage M&P last week with maybe 50% finish remaining, I decided to try it. Maybe a bit of an innovation here, I tried using one of those cheap plastic disposable mechanical pencils.

I think they use a combination of polymer and graphite for the 'lead'. Turns out it worked great to clean off the light rust patina (I'm not talking about pits) you often see. The graphite is softer than blued steel, but harder than rust - and you have near pinpoint accuracy.

Go to the dollar store an pick up a pair of 2, 2.25, 2.5X reader glasses (whatever suits your own particular focal length), and start dithering the rust off.

I have tried many non-abrasive techniques and I believe this works the best. The lead will break often, but these pencils come in 10 packs - cheap.

Recommend you look for the all-plastic ones. The ones with a metal lead guide at the bottom work fine too, just the idea of working with metal so close to your firearm points me toward the all plastic version.

The graphite that's deposited on the gun wipes off easily and leaves bare steel. Much better to my eye to have spots of bare steel on the blued surface than rust. Changes 'neglect' to 'maintained', but retains the honestly-won patina.

Try it...I think you'll like it.

For pits...I use one of those needle-in-a-dowel probe tools from an old dissection kit. This will certainly scratch a finished surface so be careful, but down in a pit it does no damage and gets rid of the iron oxide - ready for wax or you own preferred preservative coating.

I have never heard of this. Learned something today. Thanks.

"The graphite is softer than blued steel, but harder than rust -"

You obviously have a great lack of understanding of both chemistry and metallurgy!

1. Graphite is one of the softest minerals and is a form of Carbon.

2. Bluing is not a coating but actual conversion of the Iron in the steel to a form of Iron Oxide by chemical means which accelerates the process. To be short, Bluing is no more nor less than rust! Fancy rust, but still rust.

3. Iron Oxide in all it's forms is significantly harder than the parent metal. It is used for polishing of metals when ground very fine. I presume you have heard of "Jeweler's Rouge"? This is iron oxide!

Without getting into relative hardness on the Moh's Scale, how do you believe Graphite can be harder than rust while being softer than steel, when the rust is harder than the steel????

__________________
Gunsmithing since 1961

I think you are right on the Moh scale for Iron Oxide. Perhaps it's cohesive bond of iron oxide with the parent steel is less than the adhesion of the components of the pencil 'lead'. It would take a carefully structured material science study to determine truth. What really matters is; it works.