After I replied to the original query mentioning George Washington's
pistols I received the following from the original poster:

>Thank for the professional information.  I am not really working on George
>Washington's duelling pistols but some common early 20th century mass
>produced ice skates.  I used the pistols only as an attention getter.

>Thanks again,

Pistols or ice skates, I'd still advise not to use wire brushes.


George Bailey
Objects Conservator
Australian War Memorial

P.S. No offence meant when I used the term "Yanks". It's how we
differentiate you from the other people living on the American Continents,
you know, like Canadians, Mexicans, Brazilians, Peruvians, etc.