Removing sword rust

[Dailir]

We got a new sword, and it had a small rust spot so it leads to the question; Whats the best way to remove sword rust without ruining the finish?

[Eledhwen]

Jeweler's rouge and a lot of elbow grease. Progressively finer grits of sandpaper/emery paper will work too, although it is more work.

Eledhwen

[Odigan]

Assuming it is only surface rust and has not caused any etching or pitting, it's simplest to use ultra-fine Scotch-Briteâ„¢ hand pads along with your oil of preference (Break-free CLP and Ballistol are popular choices).

If the blade is etched or pitted and you want to remove this, you'll have to sand a fair portion of surrounding surface down with progressively finer grits, as Eledhwen says, with starting grit determined by severity of the pitting. Only if your final finish is a mirror polish will you need to get to anything finer than a 00 grade steel wool equivalent as the Scotch-Briteâ„¢ pads are.

If it is a new sword, why has it come with rust on it in the first place? Or is to just "new to you"?

[Dailir]

Thanks. Its new to me. It was previously owned so I got it cheap. But it smells of smoke and has rust on it. Ill post pics soon as I get the rust off.

[Ringulf]

There is a product we use in the marine industry that is Oakum impregnated with a bit of oil it is called "Neverdull" and it comes in a blue tin. You can get it at marine retail stores like West Marine. I am not sure what folks feel about it for traditional weaponry, but it works very well on brass, bronze and stainless steel.
The oil breaks down the thin surface rust and the oakum polishes it. It does a great job on tarnish for silver and such.
As Odigan said this really does not work well if the rust has pitted the surface at all.

[Eledhwen]

Jeweler's rouge for light pitting works best. Sandpaper if you have no other choice. I use sandpaper to put the basic polish on knives and swords that I make, but I use various grades of jeweler's rouge and related items to put finishing polishes on. I'm rather old school this way; I do not like using modern products on my pieces, and have little experience of them. There are many of them out there and others here, like Odigan and Ringulf, can give you better guidance in their use.

Eledhwen