I was recently given about a dozen Wheatley aluminum 'clip' fly boxes. Are these intended for wet flies only? I mean, it seems they would flatten out dry fly hackle and any 3-D attribute of the flies stored in these clips. The flies in the boxes now appear to be for sdalmon - they are all essentially two-dimensional, although very colorful.

Are these special-purpose fly boxes, or can they be used to store 'generic' flies'?
There are also bits of rust where hooks contacted the clips and aluminum walls, and the boxes look like they could use a bit of polishing. What's the best way to clean them up?