It was previously written:
"0000 grade steel wool, and or brass wool, even a wire brush careful not to scratch it. "

If you must scrub, use a similar material as the substrate: steel for steel or iron; brass for brass; copper for copper.

Microscopic particles of the scrubbing material will adhere to the metal that you are cleaning. If you use a dis-similar metal
scrubber, the scrubber metal particles will set up an electrolytic corrosion site and cause the metal to corrode. All it would take
is a microscopic layer of condensed moisture to set up the cell: this means that corrosion could start overnight from condensation
on the metal surface that you cannot see!

Dave Harvey is exactly right: read his post again.

You are is a difficult position: you are  responsible for the artifact but how do you carry out your responsibility if you do not
have the financial resources?  Sometimes doing something is worse than not doing anything!  Without detailed knowledge of the
processes that you are using as well as the potential consequences of those actions, you may well be putting the artifact in
jeopardy. Information gleaned from commercial sites or neighbors or other sources not based on scientific knowledge is fraught with
danger for the artifact. Commercial enterprise is only interested in money; your friends and neighbors, although well meaning are
more concerned with instantaneous results and neither group is concerned with the long term well being of an artifact. So, what you
do in the kitchen or the garage for cleaning most likely will not be appropriate for the preservation of an artifact: it will most
likely harm it.

Off my soapbox for a moment!

Regards,

Jim Moss
Horological Conservator

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