old rusty burner

Hi all,
We just acquired my parents old wood burner. It's called a Hutch Rebel and it's huge, I remember having it in the house when I grew up back in the late 70's early 80's, it did a good job of heating our house then, hopefully it will work as well now.
Anyway, my question is......this thing has sat out in the garage for a few years and has rusted quiet a bit, what's the best way to get the rust off so we can repaint it? Can we use a sandblaster on it? And do we have to remove all rust color or just the raised areas?
Hubby is building the hearth and my job is to clean this thing up and get it ready to go.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

I would think the sandblaster would be sweeeet for that job!

I used a palm sander on mine, and then wiped all the excess off...and painted it with a high temp paint

Sandblaster would probably be the fastest / best - if you have access to such equipment. Be sure and wear the proper breathing protection if you really use sand...no use getting silicosis over a wood stove. Or you could opt for slightly safer glass beads, carborundum powder, or other materials specially meant for the purpose. The palm sander is a good bet, too - just make sure you get some sandpaper that is rated for metal. Regular 'wood' or garnet paper would dull pretty quickly. I've also had good luck with a stiff wire brush for small areas, and a wire wheel on an angle grinder for larger areas.

Just don't use spray paint...it doesn't have legs.

I used spray paint it was rated at a higher temp then the other stuff. I put 2 coats of paint on it.