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I just bought a couple of antique irons dated in the 30's and have thought about cleaning them up for display. Has anyone used navel jelly rust remover on old brown looking rusted clubs or will it hurt the medal.

BobW

Just my opinion, but I think they look better as old, rusted clubs. I would think naval jelly would work though.

Does it have any kind of original nishing on the surface? If it's raw steel it's up to you whether you clean it up or not; however, if it has finishing that's partially peeled off, the cleaning will make it look worse.

The naval jelly witl remove the rust. Whether you like the way those old clubs look afterwards, is a different story.

As an avid viewer of Antiques Roadshow, I know they always say, leave antiques alone, do not polish them, don't clean them up, etc...

That being said, unless the club is worth a lot of money, why not clean them up and make them shiny, if that is what you want? I've cleaned up a few old hickory shafted irons with navel jelly, and also applied (very lightly) some metal polishes. Just be careful to not rub out any of the club's printing or impressions.

Just my 2 cents.

I have an old (understatement! ) Thistle putter from somewhere between1910-1919 that is rusty. After all the asking around, I decided to leave it as is. I don't use it on the course, and only bring it out to show it (or sometimes use it on a practice green) to whoever is interested.

This putter is not easy to use. So if any of you golfers have a gripe about your modern putters, try using an antique. You'll change your mind about your overdone overbalanced overpriced piece of modernity.