Hand sandiing vs Chemical rust removal?

I was in woodcrafters the other day looking for the sanding contour pads referenced in another thread. I took the blade that I need to work on and the salesman recommended a chemical product to remove the rust in the spine on my new project. I resisted the purchase until I could ask the experts about such chemical rust removers. Seems that I have read that it should not be used but if you're sanding away metal anyway what is the harm? Oh I'm new to this stuff.

Mark

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...esrazor002.jpg

The rust needs to come off, so I don't think it really matters whether you remove it manually or chemically. Just make sure that you properly neutralize or otherwise remove all of the chemical when you are done. Once the rust is removed, you can better assess that damage and determine whether or not you want to sand out any pitting or discoloration.

I tried Evapo-rust on some of my razors. It didn't harm anything, but I wasn't particularly impressed. I have also used a vibratory tumbler to clean and polish blades. The tumbler works, but so far it's still been much faster for me to just sand off the rust. Of course, after you sand you are pretty much obliged to keep going until you get to the point where you can re-polish the blade.