Ok, I realize that, as someone who specializes in noise and distortion, I can get excited about things that hold absolutely no interest for normal people. Still, one of my greatest problems in dealing with old bikes is rust. So, I did a little searching around the internet (mainly because I've pretty much forgotten all my college chemistry) and came up with a couple links. Interesting, at least to us geeks.
First, for some good stuff on rust and rust removal chemistry, see
http://www.team.net/
More practical and qualitative is the primer on rust (we geeks just love those puns) at
http://www.metalwebnews.com/
One continual problem I've had with derusting old bike parts is that naval jelly removes the rust, but leaves black gunk (I apologize for the technical terminology) in the former rust pits. That gunk is almost impossible to remove, and makes replating the part very difficult. According to the above, it's iron phosphate, and can be avoided by not leaving the jelly on too long, or by using hydrochloric acid instead.
Cool, huh?
Steve Maas (who probably got his brain overheated this morning, riding the Hetchins around) Long Beach, California, US of A