Cleaning up an old plugboard

[hal]

Here's the problem:

  I am cleaning up a number of old plugs/sockets constructed as follows:
two rows of 10 pins are mounted side by side on a bakelite rectangle form 
of about 10 inches.  The
pins are not commercial type but "specials" made from small brass hollow 
cylinder stock about 1/8 inch diameter and about an inch long. I'm sure 
this was done to save money over a more expensive
industrial type plug.  The equipment it comes from was put together back in 
the late 1950's and has
accumulated a good deal of corrosion. Clean the pins is the problem.

The pins appear to be plated brass corroded gray-white. This is some
type of oxide introducing high resistance. The corrosion can be removed 
with a few light passes of 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper. The problem is that
sanding takes the corrosion off and the plating with it.

There are other sandpapers available, for example, 600 extra fine, 1000 and 
up. I'm told there are
also chemicals available that will safely dissolve the corrosion. 
Dissolving the corrosion will leave the plating intact and avoid the 
scratching that is unavoidable with sanding.

OK,

(1) Has anyone worked with this kind of chemical and remembers what it is 
called?  (2) Where can I get some from?

Thanks  in advance.    Hal.