these whites I just got, I was out of acid so I used CLR, let the parts sit for maybe 6 hours,, then comet and the brass wire brush. none of the lettering on the slide plate were damage ( worn down ) same with the stamping on the cover plates.
I redid afew quickly, Then I did a 16-188 that took me over a year. next time I'll just get a gallon of Black and brush it on to get the thickness.
I keep saying I'm going to take a rust bucket ( treadle) clean the metal (silver stuff) leave the machine nasty. clean the cabinet so it's not a dirt bag, use that to show how well they can work and look like H ....