I'm one of those who believe that steel wool shouldn't even be in the same room with firearms. If you must go this route, please use bronze wool. It's softer than the steel, won't remove blueing, and won't leave behind particles that can rust.
I don't doubt that bronze wool works wonderfully. But steel wool is easily available at any hardware store and in thirty years of using it to remove rust on hundreds of guns I have never experienced any of the problems listed when removing surface rust in the manner I described. I'm not going to switch to bronze wool to solve problems that exist more in theory than actual practice.
Last edited: