On 18 Jul 96, Rodney L. Boleyn wrote:
<regarding Naval Jelly>

> What's the deal with this stuff?  Does it work?  Am I doing something
> wrong?  Is it intended for use on only the lightest of surface rust?
> Is there anything that works better?

this is called Consumer Momentum....  a company can continue to sell 
a marginal product for years after if has been superceded by more 
effective ones, based soley on brand name recognition.

Naval Jelly was the only game in town for many years, and while it is 
still as good as it used to be, it never was really  very effective.

Try some of the 'new generation' rust removers such as Extend (TM) 
that are sold right along side Naval Jelly.  They convert rust (and 
skin it seems) to some other form that remains as a barrier coating 
for continued rust protection.  These really aren't rust removers.  
They are more rust converters.  To actually remove the rust takes 
good ol' abrasion or an acid dip.  For many purposes, rust conversion 
followed by scraping, then more conversion of the freshly exposed 
rust is adequate.

-dan