Cleaning rusty Indian chain mail suit .. advice sought

[thinreadline]

Originally Posted by estcrh

If it has red rust it has to be treated, red rust is active. The methods I mention will not bring it back to "shiny newness", that would take sandblasting or tumbling, acid etc...something a bit more aggressive.

it is not red rust it has old brown rust .

[estcrh]

Originally Posted by thinreadline

it is not red rust it has old brown rust .

If it is a patina then that is different than rust.

[thinreadline]

Originally Posted by estcrh

If it is a patina then that is different than rust.

basically it is dirty with an ingrained layer of old brown rust powder and dirt .When that is rubbed off the appearance is so much better ... but how to do this on such a scale and should I be using wax or oil , soft cloth or abrasives or what ?