Ok, first thing we need to know is just how bad is this rust...!!
It sure looks bad, those pic's are not exaggerating anything....lets have a look...
Using a rather large cobolt lathe tool as a scraper I carefully removed the surface muck....

Surprisingly it was mostly a combination of grease, and lots of it, sawdust and a bit of rust...in fact this lathe was quite well greased up when stored by the look of it..
A little rust has got to the bed, but it's not that bad in reality...

Armed with nothing more than this

And a few of these, (Bogs would be happy at least)

You too could look like this...ahem...

Not too bad so far, better than the first impression by far, wouldn't you agree...?
Then the next stage, I took a diamond hone, not the cheap plastic type with holes in, they flex far too much. But a metal backed solid type. Read that as very solid.
Mine is a "very, very fine" whatever that translates to?
About an hour later with very careful attn to detail regarding flatness and full bed length strokes we have this. keeping it flat was not too much of a problem as suction did the hard work. Lucky for me that this bed is flat.

Now then, how good is it so far? Well the carriage now glides from one end of the bed to the other with a simple flick of a finger, it just glides,
Unbelievable !!! Well I was shocked at just how smooth it glides....beautiful...
I'll do some more on this methinks...
