So I'm fairly new to razor restoration, but I have piened a LOT of rivets, so up till now I've been fairly cavalier about unpinning razors to clean and restore them. But I have some nice older razors that have original pins in them, and I'm starting to wonder if it's worth the extra bother to try to preserve them.

The blades are rusty and the scales need a LOT of cleaning - and in many cases there's corrosion and/or gunk around the pivot. They'd all be very easy to clean up if I unpinned them...

Before I unpin them for easy cleaning, however, I thought perhaps I should ask whether there is an intelligent way to clean those up while preserving the pins?

Does the extra work seem worth it?

What are people's thoughts on unpinning, and tricks for avoiding it, if that is desirable?

Thanks!