I soaked 'em in a bath of Dawn and warm water and had my son scrub 'em when they came out. Do you have Dawn???...and a son? Both make this job much easier.

I've tried this it didn't work. Someone said to soak them in soda.

I steel wooled one and when I was done I could see the chrome. But it took forever. What would you do if there were some paint on them.

One of the other cats here (i forget who) mentioned Whink Rust Stain remover - I soaked them in it.

http://www.whink.com/rust_stain_remover.htm

It helped a bit when I used it, but it's pretty noxious stuff - gotta wear gloves & follow directions - However, afterward, I used Brasso and elbow grease on a few - until I ran out of gasHurting - seemed like that method was effective - but was taking FOREVER. An old tooth brush woulda made things easier. Brasso does a nice job on chrome, but I've been less impressed with it on bare metal - I refurbished an old Jenco aluminum lyre glockenspiel - NuFinish car polish did a better job there on the aluminum.

Another thing I've done is soak these in a jar overnight in Amway Wonder Mist - (a relative gave it too me - it's a bit expensive per can - not sure if they still sell it) - It's kinda like WD-40. I'm not sure if there's much difference between the two or not, but it seemed to clean & condition the metal - and supposedly inhibits corrosion.

KleeningI think the Dawn would help to loosen your normal water soluble dirt as a first wave, plus it cuts grease.

It seems that the ones I've cleaned aren't manufactured to polish up in any way - they seem kinda flat finished - maybe galvanized or something.

One thing I considered - putting them all into a piece of pre-drilled pine - close together, then scrubbing at their tops all at once - didn't do it, but.... Just something to hold 'em all at once.

So, from my experience (and there will be more of these to clean soon) - All of the above - plus a tooth brush and some elbow grease.... and a lot of patience.

Oh, and DON'T wear a tuxedo:p

P.S. - If you haven't seen this VDF page - it's worth the read:

http://www.vintagedrumguide.com/how_to_vintage_snare.html

All previous posts have good advice.

I used CLR - it's a Calcium, Lime and Rust remover and it's not to noxious, but I did wear gloves.

Soak the mounting screws in a little container of it and then rub the screws on a copper pad - doesn't scratch like steel wool. Sometimes all you need is a toothbrush after a good soak. This works for t-rods, too.

I use bartenter's friend, you will find it next to the ajax and comet, it has some sort of acid in it, I mix it with dawn and enough water to submerse the screws. I put my screws in a old fashion wood handled kitchen strainer and lower it into the bowl with the bartenders friend. Then I put this vibrator on top of the strainer. The screws vibrate against each other and come out shiney as a new penny! I stir the mixture occasionally, The longer you leave the screws in there the cleaner they get.

I got some wink today, I cant wait to try my vibrating small parts cleaner with wink! I will let you know how it works.

"despratly looking for some rusty screws!"

Okay it seems like a good idea.

)(&^$#$%^^^&*%$!!!!!!!

I did the whink with my vibrating parts cleaning aparatus. It literally stripped the plating off of the screws! Dammitt!!

Anybody have some lug screws for a 66 luddy marching snare? lol