Here is my question. I have a rifle musket that was originally finished bright. The barrel has a good amount of white showing, but the lockplate is very dark in color, almost black. THe lockplate doesn't have pitting and the surface texture matches the barrel, it is just very dark. It looks like it may be old dirt or more likely powder residue from a long time ago. Either way I would like to clean the lockplate some so the markings are more visible. NOW, before I go any further I don't want people to think that I want to remove all of the patina or ruin the gun. I simply want to remove some of the muck that is covering the lockplate markings. I do not wish to make major changes to the gun nor do I want to damage the weapon in any way. Does anyone have any advice as to how to go about doing this without harming the gun. Like I said, I don't want to polish'er up or go hog wild. Any info and advice that you can provide would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Rob