Servisol Switch & Contact Cleaner?
i used my wifes nail emery boards....
Put your finger on top of the valve when its in its socket and move it ouija style in a circle, them buy a transistor amp
Pete
Should the pins prove to be heavily oxidized an initial going over with 0000 fine wire wool , fibreglass pen , etc, etc .
leave the valve sitting overnight in just enough Coke a Cola ( budget , branded , full-on or suger free it matters not) to cover the pins , wash off the pins with H2O (ideally de-ionized) .
A light application of Caig DeoxIT to finish .
Valid point, in my experience back in the days when valves were the norm, dodgy sockets gave more trouble than dirty valve pins - especially the brown phenolic Mcmurdo types.I am not a valve user so surmising only but if the valve pins are corroded what about the sockets they sit in?
Generally a fibreglass pencil does the trick.
They don't generally get oxidised or anything as such due to the type of metal they are made from. Sometimes a quick clean can be in order though....