Rust on top of stove

[mkaspenwaldo]

First time post and all around stove noob here.

There is some rust of the top plate of the VC vigilant stove in a home I recently purchased. I was going to use Williams stove polish to clean it up after I brush off the rust, but there are some other posts that say paint is better. The second photo I attached shows the front of the stove. It is in pretty good shape as far as I can tell. I don’t know how old the stove is- there is a stamped 1977 inside (which I know is just the date on the mold) but no other dates anywhere. We’ve had someone out to clean and inspect it so I don’t need safety advice (yet lol) just some general info about maintenance, etc. Thanks!

 

[Kwolt]

If it was me I’d treat it like an old cast iron frying pan. I’d use steel wool to remove the rust although I don’t think you have to go crazy on it. Get it hot and let the fire die down. As it’s cooling down apply vegetable oil. If you put it on while it’s too hot it will smoke. The oil should impregnate the metal. You can repeat this if necessary but eventually it should be black and resistant to more rust.