Restoring 1974 Sovereign stove

[texasbound]

My stove has some minimal surface rust... How have you all cleaned yours up? I bought simichrome but have not tried it as of yet. Thanks!

[rumrunner]

pictures would be a big help
tim

[texasbound]

Here you go!

[rumrunner]

looks like stainless steel with a (hopefully) small amount of surface pitting. You can get quite a bit more agressive with stainless than with aluminum. start gently with 600 grit wet sanding then 1000 and 1500. by then it should be looking pretty good. If you can bench mount a polisher go ahead and buff it up till it looks like you want.
Alternatively, if you dont want a glossy shine a media blaster with soda or glass beads will give a very even gloss free finish. trying to match a machine finish as found on modern kitchen appliances can be very difficult.
Stay away from abrasive cleaning pads and products afterward. Barkeepers friend is an oldie and still a goodie.
tim

[Splitrock]

I retired the stove in my trailer that looked a lot the same. Mine was not stainless steel. It was steel with some nickle on it. Stainless steel won't rust. To test if it's stainless steel, just try to stick a magnet on it. Stainless steel will not hold a magnet. There can be mixtures, like in a cheap stainless steel sink. They will not be magnetic at the bottom. The farther up on the side I go with the magnet, the more steel and the less nickle. At the near top the magnet will stick there no problem.

Good nickle stainless steel sinks with not hold a magnet anywhere. My new stove is powder coated black.

[SpikeC]

Actually, high grade stainless is magnetic, check an allclad pan, for instance, or a german knife. Stainless steel can also corrode in the right environment.