I've never tried EvapoRust, but for lightly rusted parts, CLR works pretty well. I've brought back many sets of legs with only hot water, soap pads, and elbow grease. I'll lightly wire wheel any really bad spots, and around the base. A slightly dull razor blade is also useful to remove any heavier rust. Try it! This step will significantly speed up any further rust removal process.
To get them really dry, after cleaning them, I heat them lightly with a propane torch, until surface moisture haze no longer appears. This is important, because you don't want to trap moisture in the pores (yes, metal has pores!) by coating with wax or polish.
I finish them off with Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish. Can do a set of four in about an hour, and it's a good upper body workout as well.
It's often amazing how well a set of legs or a coin door can come out, considering what they looked like before.

I think these are beyond saving. Going out in the trash.

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Ok, ok! I'll keep them around. Coarse wire wheel treatment, and Hammertone paint will at least make them useable. Let's see how close a sow's ear can approach being a silk purse. One already has the leveler stud broken off in it, and I'm not counting on the others to come out easily. They really are heavily rusted.

I've found this with CLR as well, but not with all metals. I know that if you leave parts in CLR too long, they will start getting a black coating on them. I rinse the parts with very hot water and scrub them with a brush, as soon as I remove them, but usually I need to polish the part with Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish to get it looking good and bright.

Yup. Get the part good and dry before polishing. Hair dryer, heat gun, or a propane torch.

Not meaning to turn this thread into "the saga of JR's decrepit legs", but I decided to get started on making these decent and useable again.
I managed to get the broken off leveler stud out, and that was the first one I figured I'd work on.
Got as much rust off as I could using razor scraper, and wire wheel.
Then scrubbed with cleaning vinegar and steel wool. Rinsed, dried (with my trusty torch), and sprayed with Rustoleum Hammered Finish (dark bronze).

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Started on the second one. No luck getting the rusted leveler out, and naturally it broke off very short.
Whipped out the center punch and drill.
Was able to clear the hole and re-cut
the threads with perfect results.
Don't hold your collective breaths waiting for the whole set to be finished. This may take a while as I have bigger fish to fry. I may give EvapoRust a try if I come across it.
Manual methods of removing this level of rust are pretty taxing!

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I appreciate that. I've just never come across it anywhere.
CLR works pretty good too, and I see it everywhere.

Coke contains phosphoric acid, which is what helps remove rust.
I've never looked into getting pure phosphoric acid for rust removal, but I imagine it must be available.

Well, I got the other two levelers out.
One had to be drilled and retapped, and I managed to get one out by cutting off the foot close to the base of the leg, and unscrewing it toward the inside of the leg using Vise Grips.
Got two more of the legs derusted and sprayed with Rustoleum Hammered Finish, but was stopped short derusting the last leg on the wire wheel, when my right middle digit took a dive into the rotating wire wheel. Ouch! Just a nasty abrasion, but I figured I'd call it quits for today. I'm probably going to need another can of Rustoleum to finish the last leg anyway.

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What kind of vinegar do you use?
I bought a jug of cleaning vinegar at the grocery store, but it doesn't seem to be significantly stronger than salad vinegar.

Tried heating too. It helped on the first one, but not on the other two that I had to eventually drill. When the rust has eaten away at the thread profile, it isn't going to come out.
One thing I learned on the last one though (which I thought would be the worst one); if the leveler is screwed in where you have an inch or so protruding inside the base, cut off the rest of the foot as close to the bottom of the base as possible, file it smooth, and then use vise grips and unscrew it from the the inside. That way you won't be dealing with any length of buggered up or rusty threads, and the piece should come out fairly easily in a few turns. Once it's started, squirt some oil or whatever on the thread, and work it back and forth a few times and then it'll come out easily.

Yeah, I'm wondering what game would look good and be at the correct height with these 31" dark bronze hammer-finished legs.

I ordered two gallons. Going to get my PVC pipe rig at Lowes.
I'm sure I'll be coming across some rusty legs which will need the treatment. Gotta get more Mother's too.

Thanks. Ordered two gallons.

Ok, so those rusty stems have been spared! I finished them with Krylon Fusion Hammered Silver, but I'm not really happy with the finish. It's not even close to the authentic hammered finish you get with Hammerite spray. More of a fuzzy kind of finish. But, they're going to be used again instead of getting scrapped.

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