Best thing for cleaning a steel shaft

turkish

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Got a few wee surface rust spots on my shafts and looking to clean and polish before it sets in.

I was thinking a wire mesh brush and soapy water and some wd40?

Anybody with experience in this?
 
CIF. I used to restore old 70's Japanese motorbikes, and spent hours shining up mudguards using CIF, or JIF as it was called back then.
 
I would just give them all a rub with a cloth impregnated with a decent light oil, GT85 or 3in1 would be my prefered choices. I would say taking anything abrasive to them will weaken the chrome finish around the spots concerned.
 
Avoid abrasive 'polishes': modern technology enables current day chrome plating to be very, very thin.

Automotive mild colour restoring polish is as 'abrasive' as you'd ever want to go. Then polish with a good quality natural beeswax.
 
My mother in law gave me a spontex pad which is basically wire wool though maybe quite as coarse with soap through it... worked a treat- one wipe took it clean off without scratching the metal.
 
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