[Hugh R]

Don't know if that would work with rust, but it certainly does with silver tarnish. Take your best sterling silver put in in a pot of water with some scrap aluminum add as much table salt as the water will hold and boil it for 20 minutes. It converts through electrolysis silver oxide to aluminum oxide without removing any silver. You then scrub the aluminum oxide off of the sacrifical aluminum. Just make sure its silver not pewter!