Naval jelly will kill springs. You don't baby sit springs in the stuff you just never put them in it. Now think about this. If the naval jelly is going deep enough into the grain structure of the spring to kill it, it is also penetrating into the structure of other steel components. I never use it on anything. If I'm refinishing something I'm going to be repolishing it anyway and never saw much advantage in not just hitting it with the abrasive paper to start with. If I just want to take off a worn blue, a 10%HCl solution or a 50% Acetic acid solution will do it with a few swipes on a rag.
Tom
