Signed Naval sword with surrender tag, rust removal?

[phil reid]

Hi Gents , Just teased the handle off this slightly rusty tang on a WW2 Naval sword. Whats the thoughts on rust removal? there's some simple chalked on numbers on tang that'll disappear if i remove plus the signatures slightly obscured, thinking ill at least remove the rust off spine edges that's hindering blade removal and is still "live". Your thoughts would be appreciated

[SteveM]

Looks to me like 

関住服部正廣作

Seki-jū Hattori Masahiro saku　　= Made by Masahiro Hattori of Seki (province)

On the wooden tag it says

左舷　sagen (port, as in left side of ship...I'm not sure what this is doing on this tag)

佐々木平  SASAKI Taira (Japanese name) 

一曹  Issō  (petty officer)

 

[Dave R]

Live rust is a real no-no. .Scrape the tang with a piece of bone, ivory (piano key) or antler, then lightly oil your fingers and give the tang a good rub over. The idea is to get the bare minimum of oil on the tang that would do the job.

[vajo]

I would do nothing with bone or something. I would wash it up with water because think it is salt. After drying, oil it. And then took it in bare hands from time to time.

[mtexter]

Is WD-40 an absolute nope on a nakago?  I feel awkward for even mentioning it here, but it sure can get some rust to go away.  I'm with Dave, scrape off what you can as gently as you can, then rub by hand to get the rest.  

[Bruno]

Put good mineral gun oil on the nakago and wrap it with cellophane. Wait a few days, then gently tap the nakago with a mallet. It should remove the active rust without damaging anything.

 

You can repeat this process several times. A part from than I would not do anything else.