Spinning a Yarn - I'm no Spring Chicken

As, you may or may not know by now, I've encountered some rust issues with my loom.

The springs which the shafts sit on were completely oxidised & stiff.. Now this was no case of a quick once over with aluminium foil & bob's your uncle... no sireee!

This required something else, something I know not everyone may keep on hand, but luckily I did!

Mr WD40

No no, not R2D2.. WD40!

Ahh, that's better.

I gave a liberal spray to the springs and low and behold I was able to move them, they had regained their springiness!

I did wipe down the metal and go over the outside with a little foil, compressed each side of the spring and went over the inside metal rod, as well as the washers.

The metal turned to blackish steel. Now I know this isn't a perfect job, but as long as it got the heddles into motion, I was satisfied.

I also decided to go over a few other metal embellishments with aluminium foil in order to get them looking a little shinier.

Do you have any go to tricks to get things looking in shmick? I'd love to hear them!