NB Red River Restoration Questions

The *best* way (since you asked) to get the rust of would be to disassemble the grill and treat the rusted parts through electrolysis. It might sound like a bear, but if you have a decent manual battery charger, some old lumber, and a roll of black plastic it can be pretty dang simple. I use it to clean antique cast iron skillets and I have a friend who has actually done whole car frames with this method. It will removed *all* the rust and *all* the creosote without you needing to lift a finger once the bath is made.

http://users.eastlink.ca/~pspencer/nsaeta/electrolysis.html

If that is more than you want to tackle, consider having it sand blasted. Might find someone locally who will do it for you for cheap. If that is no viable, then it looks like it is the wire wheel for you. I personally would not use any chemicals on the interior surface. Wear a respirator and eye protection.

The exterior I would take down as best you can and shoot it with high-temp grill paint. The inside I would take down as best you can and then season it well. The issue for you to consider is how much work you want to put into this and your environmental factors. Where there is rust there will be more rust if there is moisture present. Seasoning the inside will help but eventually the rust will return, particularly if you live in an area with swings in temp and humidity.

Me? I would grind it until I was feeling like it was time for a beer. Then I would shoot the outside with paint, season the inside, then get on with life and start cooking.

For the grates, consider expanded metal on frames. When you say the creosote in the chimney is "bad", what exactly does that mean? If it's not actually obstructing the air flow I would probably just leave it.

to SMF Good to have you here

You are in the right place the folks here are help full and knowledgeable

Don’t forget the Qview  

Oven cleaner on the chimney with a 1/4" of creosote would take a ton of applications. You can use a lye bath (which is basically what oven cleaner is, but 20x more expensive) in a 5 gallon bucket. If it won't fit do one end first then flip it over and then the other. Will have to sit for a week or more but at least it is low effort.

For the rest of it I would just go to town with your wire wheel and grinder and get off as much as you can, then paint the outside and season the inside and be done with it. Others here might know about some of the chemicals that transform the rust and stop the rust process, but I'm not familiar with them and if you want to do that on sufaces that are near heat and food. The firebox is your main concern from the looks of it. Make sure the ash does not sit with grease and/or water and you should get a decent life out of it.