I have always advocated cleaning as little as possible, preserving patina as an evidence of age: kisses of time, so to speak. But nothing is absolute: sometimes we get an obviously old item that is covered with gunk, crud and rust to the point of such a terminal ugliness that no old soldier would touch it with a barge pole. And “gentle cleaning” of the red rust just uncovers deeper and deeper defects that will progress unabated with time but meanwhile mutilate the item to the point of disgust.
I have an admission to make: on couple of occasions I had to clean things aggressively. The deep “ french kisses of time” were lost , but just a quick glance of the entire item was sufficient to establish its true age. Nihl had a very valid argument in favor of that approach. I have a Khazar saber that was pitted, rusty and covered in lime deposits. A bath of vinegar with subsequent mechanical cleaning eliminated rust, lime and some superficial scales of rusty metal originally held together by lime just fell off, and “Renaissance Wax” will hopefully preserve the entire relic for another couple of centuries. The saber remained totally unusable on the battlefield, but has retained its historical value.
Hamlet’s “ I must be cruel only to be kind” still holds true on occasion.
Human medicine is essentially based on this principle, with chemotherapies, radiations, surgeries, amputations and innumerable side effects of virtually all drugs.
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