I had an inquiry on how I cleaned this up, and I thought I'd post that here for anyone interested.
first, I use the art conservators mindset (done some of that too) of doing the least harm, and preserving surface and in some cases patina if it doesn't harm preservation or function.
this tool has a nickel plated steel blade, and it had a decent amount of rust on it, primarily small pinpoint spots. I had some difficulty getting this cleaned up.
first tried Brownell's Steel White (same basically as Evaporust), but that wasn't working. I think they were "under" the nickel plate a bit.
then went to CLR. of course as I went to the acidic products I was careful to test and be sure I wasn't stripping the plating. not working.
tried some Barkeepers Friend WITOUT scrubbing of course as it is abrasive with oxalic. not much happened with this either.
this was some stubborn rust! so I got out the big guns and gingerly hit it with a phosphoric acid product, RustOleum Rust Dissolver.
finally got somewhere, but there were some larger spots of rust that needed a little help and I spot brushed with a soft steel brush.
once I did this I had some shiny spots, and most of the rest of the blade was dull and not looking too hot.
I VERY reluctantly began to brush the rest of the blade, first I tried a brass brush, but I had to go back to the fine steel brush.
I had expected the steel to abrade the nickel but it was a hard deposit (electroless probably), and it actually burnished nicely.
used that brush on the screws too.
the aluminum T head was easy, bit of detergent and then a superfine grey scotchbrite hand pad.1000 grit paper on the flat sides and working face.
coat everything with food grade machine oil as is my typical practice on hand tools.
hope that is informative and helps, Cy