Good point Rick. The last few inches near the tip of the blade certainly seem to be heavily corroded, although the edges of the fullers show some underlying steel coming through the rust. Closer to the hilt, there is little pitting and there seems plenty of steel left to enable a clean. The fact that you could flex the blade and it sprang back (without cracking or breaking) suggests there probably is quite a bit of steel left to effect a reasonable clean.
I've found gentle abrasive blasting in a cabinet to be effective at removing old rust of this type. I use fine "Black Beauty" medium, an air pressure of about 60-70 psi, and short bursts from 6-8 inches to be effective, while the somewhat lower than usual air pressure allows the process to proceed fairly slowly. Mechanically removing the oxidation with abrasive paper puts more stress on the blade IMHO, and I have had thin blades crack under vigorous rubbing.
An alternative to cleaning would be to stabilize the rust with, say, tannic acid and leave the sword black.
Hope this helps.
Ian
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