Copper Cleaning Hacks

4 Materials

15 Minutes

Easy

I have some copper pots and a strainer that are just plain dingy looking. I decided to try a bunch of copper cleaning hacks to see what would work best to clean it.

You can see more of my crazy cleaning and organizing hacks here

Let's start with the top 3 winners!

Salt, Vinegar, and Flour - In a bowl I mixed together 1 cup vinegar, 1 Tablespoon salt, and added flour mixing it together to make a paste. Mine was a bit runny as you can tell. I let it sit on the copper for 1 hour. You could almost see it working immediately though.

Once the hour was up I rinsed it off and look how clean it was!

Boil Method - In a pot 1 cup vinegar, 1 Tablespoon salt, and add water to fill the pot so that the copper is covered.

Bring to a boil and place the copper in the mixture.

It will depend on how much tarnish is on the copper to determine how long it will need to sit, but over all it didn't take long at all. I think mine only was in there 30 seconds or less.

Lemon Juice & Salt Paste - I poured about 1 Tablespoon into a bowl, added salt and mixed until I created a paste. I used a scrub pad to scoop up the mixture and made circular motions on the bottom of the pan.

After it was as clean as I could get it, I rinsed it off and wiped it dry.

Here's what didn't work...

Ketchup/Tomato Sauce - I spread ketchup on the left side and tomato sauce on the right. I let it sit for 15 minutes.

I rubbed at both sides after the 15 minutes, and rinsed it off. The ketchup did a little work but the tomato sauce didn't really do anything.

Lime - I rubbed a lime all over the copper for several minutes and it might have gotten a little lighter but overall I was not impressed.

Regular Toothpaste - I rubbed on regular toothpaste with a soft cloth. I rinsed it off and sadly it again showed a little change but not a lot.

My favorite to the test: I was ready to do my copper strainer. I decided my favorite was the salt, vinegar, and flour mixture.

I coated the strainer with the mixture, and you could see it working immediately. I let it sit for an hour and rinsed it off.

This technique made it sparkle again and it was so easy to do.

*With all of the techniques there were a few dark spots left behind. I'm not sure what those are but I could not get some of them to budge for a perfect finish.

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3 questions on this project

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Migdia Chinea
Jun 30, 2018
I have a stain on my driveway caused by someone who poured a catatonic material on it. I can’t put the plant on top because it’s a walk way. There’s no way to remove it. Something with tiles? Thanks so much.
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  Migdia Chinea
  Jun 30, 2018
  Thanks for your response. The problem with paint is that the driveway is the length of a big historic house. The stain is acid. Painting would be a huge project that would add an additional temporary maintenance issue. I was wondering if I could do a tile design there is something. Don’t know.
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Birdy Daniel
May 08, 2018
CAn the salt/vinegar/flour mix be reused or is it a one time use only? I have many copper pieces to clean.
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  Diena Cameron
  May 09, 2018
  Great tips Chas, I only have a small copper pot and a strainer but will definitely try your solution. Would you know how to clean brass, I have a beautiful antique brass two-tier soap dish that hangs on the edge of my claw foot bathtub but i can't seem to get it to shine. I bought Brasso but that hasn't seemed to help. Thanks again !
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Rosalind McMillan
May 08, 2018
How would you clean aluminum pots
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  Bma16115722
  Jul 19, 2018
  I BOIL LEFT OVER TOMATO SKINS AND ROT WHEN I AM CANNING TOMATOES AND IT MAKES THEM SPARKLE.
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Holly Popovich
May 08, 2018
Before you totally write off the lime ~ try dipping the cut lime into salt and then use it like you would with a stainless steel pad. The citric acid needs the abrasive action of the salt to be more effective.
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  Chas
  May 08, 2018
  Thank you for the tip Holly
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A4g26092269
May 08, 2018
definitely!

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