[Arran]

I have not tried electrolysis yet for rust removal, sounds interesting.
Sandblasting should be avoided though. It can cause heat buildup (possible warping) metal thickness issues, pitting etc. are the downfalls. For severe cases of rust, you might not have any other choice.
For those that don't know, there is the sodium bicarbonate method of blasting. It doesn't present any of the issues a traditional sandblaster has. Works on light rust too. Leaves no pitting or 'signature' of sandblasting.

Gary;
You should give it a try, I used it to strip the rust off an unseize my pipe vise and it got everything loose again and down to bare metal. It will take heavy crusty rust and even paint off, after stripping a steel cabinet with paint remover I will never do it by any method other then electrolysis again. In my case the vise is made out out of cast iron or cast steel so I needed to bake it afterwards just to prevent hydrogen enbrittlement. It isn't an issue with mild steel but with cast iron and tempered steel you really need to do this, fortunately it doesn't have to be at high heat just something like 250 F for an hour. I used washing soda for the electrolyte but you can also use baking soda, or TSP, or even lye, but I would stick with either washing soda or baking soda since they are fairly cheap and less caustic.
Soda blasting I think is safer for softer metals, and you don't have to worry about silicosis from the dust like you would with sand. I've also heard of blasting with beads, plastic pellets, dry ice, and even walnut shells for much the same reasons, it removes the crud without removing metal.
Regards
Arran