Rusty Old Keys!

A pile of rusty old iron keys...
They were orange!  Honestly!
How to get rid of the rust?
I read on "tinternet" that strong tea removes rust from iron...  So I tried it.  A small bowl, two teabags, hot water and said pile of rusty old keys.  Leave it for a few hours.  The orange rust disappears but you're left with...  BLACK!  The water goes black, the keys go black, your fingers go black!  Splash the sink a bit and there is black everywhere!
At least the rust has gone....
Most of the loose ex-rust-now-black can be scrubbed off with a wire brush...  but you get black dust everywhere.   Thank goodness for the weather - I've been able to de-black the keys in the garden.  I also had the foresight to buy a cheapo chopping board to do this on!  More polishing required, and I'm just not cutout formuch elbow grease!
So...
Today my new Dremel arrived.  Oh what fun!   I've been trying out the Dremel polishing kit and have now tested the main components.  After a bit of a polish, the keys look fabulous!  Seems you can get a bit carried away and end up grinding off some of the detail and old character - so have to keep my polishing enthusiasm in check.

Now you may be wondering why I'm polishing up rusty old keys. 
I've had a bag of them for about 2 years now, an eBay or junk shop purchase.  I have no idea what the original thinking behind getting them was.  Anyway, I have decided that they will make fab jewellery components.  In fact, some of the old ones are really beautiful.  They are really old - like really, really old.  I had no idea how nice they were!  So when I get a chance to finish them off, they will be set in silver to make a new range in my Etsy and Folksy shops.  They deserve the best!