How to clean rust off of chrome sockets?

I scored a grocery bag full of assorted sockets, ratchets, and a single wire cutter for $0.50 at an estate sale. Nothing special, probably all made in India or Taiwan, but I figured the wire cutter was worth the 50 cents. The chrome sockets have some rust on them, and I’m trying to figure out the best way to get it off. I was planning on soaking them overnight in vinegar, rinsing them with water, then spraying them with some oil. 

Is there a better way way to do this? Looking to not spend any money on this as I’ll probably end up using 3 of the sockets and leaving the rest in a box somewhere, but wondering if there is a tried and true method for this. 

In reply to mtn :

I’ve always had good luck with dish soap and aluminum foil. Just make a tub of soapy water, dip the aluminum foil in it like a rag, and rub the rust away. 

Cover them with Evao-Rust in a plastic bucket for a couple of days. 

I have had good success cleaning rust of with vintage chrome bike wheels, using a copper “dish sponge/rag/ball or fine wires/whateveritiscalledinenglish” and “barkeepers friend”. Works wonders and won’t scratch the chrome.

mtn said:

I was planning on soaking them overnight in vinegar, rinsing them with water, then spraying them with some oil. 

I found an abandoned tool set under our rental house and did exactly that. I used a mix of 50/50 hot water and vinegar. I let it sit for a few days though. Drained, rinsed, dropped them all in a container and let them marinate in used motor oil for a day. Drained again, wiped them all off with shops rags and they are still in my tool box. I rescued a set of 1" drive sockets my Dad gave me the same way.

I'm a fan of evap o rust or metal rescue.  I've had similar luck with both.

Lime-a-way or CLR should also work

Sweet. I'll start with my initial plan, since it is more or less free. I haven't even looked at whats in the bag yet other than a bunch of sockets, wire cutter, and a couple of ratchets, hopefully it is all 10mm snap on sockets! But it is probably the 1983 equivalent of Harbor Freight. 

I threw them all in a coffee can with probably a 30-70 vinegar-water mix (would have gone more, but I'm out of vinegar) and didn't count everything but there were more than a few made in USA Craftsman and SK sockets in there - probably about 15 total. More were made in Japan or Taiwan, and I don't think the chrome plating on some of those will make it through the vinegar soak as they were seriously cheap tools,  but pretty happy about the Craftsman and SK.

One of the ratchets was junk, and was tossed, but another one while cheap should be good. I'll see how full the set is tonight and probably throw the fuller set of either SK or Craftsman on eBay, since they were all SAE and I already have more SAE tools than I'll ever use. 

But... but... chrome doesn't rust! 

Electrolysis....works well on lots of stuff.

Barkeepers friend and water works well, too.

In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :

I've done that on chromed tools. It worked well.  I've since learned that one of the by-products of this  is various hexavalent chrome compounds that are highly toxic.

I haven't grown a 3rd eye or developed CA yet and I don't worry about it, but I wish I'd used another method.