I bought a big box full of an assortment of metal files. I had originally thought I would perhaps use them to make knives but when I got to looking at them I began to have second thoughts.

There are several different sizes, styles and cuts. Most have an over all coating of surface rust but most don't have pitting. I soaked a couple in WD40 and used a file card on them with mixed results.

My question is how do you clean rust off your files? Have you ever tried to restore old rusty ones?

I have used electrolysis on some metal items with good results before and am wondering if this would work well on the files? What does the hive say?

Thanks!

a quick coat of navel jelly worked on some old files i bought at a flea market,ymmv.

Brush them off and oil them up.
If they still cut any rust will be quickly worn off.

Your other thread on this topic is just below.