You are using my new favorite word! Saws!
Are you thinking the saws are collector quality? If so, you may not want to touch them at all. With Ed Hobbs big meet end of july, taking them there might be a good start.
If you plan to use the saws, I like to start with 0000 steel wool and mineral spirits or wd-40. If its more rust than comes off easily, on to stage two. If you want to sand a bit, 220 wet dry, nothing courser. Either way, this is only for surface rust.
For either collector or user saws, I'm partial to electolysis or potato water. You'd want to remove the handle as both methods involve submersion in water. Potato water takes about 2 weeks, but works great.
I posted a bunch of links to hand saw sites, they include some guides on saw restoration.
http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/f30/handsaws-resources-faq-22257/
One link is on cleaning saws,
http://www.vintagesaws.com/library/saw_clean/saw_clean.html
A few pics are always appreciated so we can say things like "wow, cool, and you lucky duck".
If you have room in your truck, feel free to bring them on Saturday. There are those among us who are saw obsessed these days.
The nib? Oh brother, thats a can of worms. I'm not gonna get into it, other than to say, there are no definitive answers. The nib is lost to history as far as it purpose. Me, I think they are there to clean under ones fingernails.
Jim