Coke was the first one I heard about, but experience showed me that any of the dark colas will work. It does a good job of loosening rust so that it can be scrubbed off. I’ve used it on my cast iron cookware – I collect the stuff, and it’s often pretty badly rusted when I get it. I soak the item in cola for as little as an hour and as long as overnight, and have found that the overnight soak is best. When done soaking, dump the cola down the drain and get busy scrubbing the h e l l out of the item. I did have one very rusty old iron kettle that I had to repeat the process twice. I really should’a forgone the purchase of that one, but I couldn’t resist. Anyway, scrub the thing until the rust is gone, then dry it thoroughly and if it is an iron cookware item, you’ll have to season it as if it were a new piece. Various cookbooks devoted to cast iron cookery will tell you how to do that. If not a cooking item, it still will need protection against renewed rusting. A light coating of mineral oil may do it, or you may want to use a product such as Rust-oleum. A good place to ask is at your local auto parts store or your hardware store (Ace is the place!) As for the aluminum foil – yes, it will work, but it’ll demand a lot of hard work – far more than if you use the cola soak method. Why work that hard when ya don’t have to?

rust from cast-iron -
http://www.iliveoutdoors.com/reviews/features/castseasoning.php
(scroll to bottom of page)
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other uses -
http://www.wackyuses.com/coke.html

A wire brush (either on a drill or a hand held one) will clean the rust off even better and faster after all this is cast iron not aluminum or nonstick coated stuff. Use the cola for the flatware and that little cap on the sink. Aluminum foil works fine is is a soft metal that will not gouge or scratch most metal surfaces.