We all have either some utensils or some artifacts made of copper in our home. Copper, in its shinier bright pink form, adds galore and texture to your home decor. Copper is a good conductor of heat and hence, it is used worldwide for making cookwares. Copper gets tarnished after a period of time due to the formation of an oxide layer over its surface. Then this question comes in our mind, how to clean copper? Well, there are numerous home remedies to clean copper. We will share most common of them, here, in this article. You can clean copper jewelry, pots, art or a copper roof. For this, you don’t need to have professional tools and sprays to get copper cleaned. Some basic household products will do wonders for you right from your kitchen. However, it is advised to not to use these products for cleaning lacquered copper as the thin coating of copper may wear out. These homemade cleaning tips will not only save you money but it ensures a healthy home environment. So, clean copper using non-toxic and safe items present in your home.
Ways to Clean Copper:
1) Clean Copper Using Lemon and Salt
These two basic ingredients can clean almost anything. Lemon juice is acidic in nature so it can remove tarnish easily. Salt will act as an abrasive. Take a lemon. Squeeze out its juice and mix it up with a teaspoon of salt. Your cleaning scrub is ready. Spread the scrub over the tarnished area. Wait for 15 seconds. Now, damp the scrubbing sponge into the scrub and rub the textured area (if any). It will easily get inside those nooks and crannies. Scrub it properly in a circular motion. Wash off the item with warm water. Dry the item using a soft cloth.
2) Vinegar, Salt, and Flour Paste to Clean Copper
Another recipe to clean copper includes vinegar, salt, and flour as main ingredients. Vinegar is also acidic in nature like lemon. Take a quarter cup flour and a quarter cup salt in a bowl. Add vinegar while pouring it slowly into the bowl to make a paste. The consistency of the mixture should not be too thick. Rub the paste onto the copper using sponge scrubber. You can do it using your fingers too while following the circular motion. Keep rubbing it until copper starts shining. Sometimes you need to wait for 15-20 minutes before washing it off if the tarnish is much thicker. Wash off the copper with water. Dry it using a cotton cloth. Again follow a circular motion to dry it. It gives copper a polished finish. Put back that shiny copper to work.
3) Boil in Salt and Vinegar Solution to Clean Copper
For this procedure, you need to take a container large enough to fit your item into it. In that container, pour one cup of white vinegar and add one tablespoon of salt to it. You can use a glass or ceramic pot for carrying out cleaning process. Add water to the container so that the copper remains submerged. Now, boil the mixture till the tarnish comes out. Let it cool down and then rinse off the copper with soap-water. Dry it using a soft cloth. Since vinegar is less acidic than lemon so it may take longer time.
4) Lemon Juice and Baking Soda to Clean Copper
Lemon juice and baking soda combine to give a wonderful paste which can remove tarnish easily out of your copper item. For this, you have to add one tablespoon of baking soda to few tablespoons of lemon juice. Using a sponge scrubber, rub this paste over copper in a circular fashion. Keep rubbing it until the regime comes off completely. Now, you can rinse it under water. Polish off the copper using a soft cloth. For a natural polish to your copper items just dab a few drops of vegetable oil.
5) Ketchup to Clean Copper
If you are cleaning a smaller copper item then this method would be best for you. As for larger items, you need to use the whole bottle of ketchup which obviously you want to avoid. It is hard to believe but ketchup is a very good copper cleaner. There are certain acids in the ketchup which on reacting with tarnish gives us a cleaned copper. Spread some ketchup over the copper item. You can use a cloth to rub it all over the item. Rub it for a while. Rinse it off with water and dry it using a soft cloth.
6) Lemon Juice, Salt and Flour to Clean Copper
Lemon juice and white vinegar have almost same pH levels. Both of these are acidic in nature. So, it can be used along with salt and flour to clean copper. For this, you need to take a quarter cup of flour and a quarter cup of salt. Slowly add lemon juice to it. You will get a paste-like mixture. If the copper item you want to clean is bigger in size then you may need some more flour and salt. However, for cleaning copper you just have to apply this paste on the tarnished portion. Wait for 5-10 minutes and then start rubbing it with a scrubbing sponge. Tarnish will start clearing off. Wash the copper item under plain water. Dry it using soft cotton cloth for polished finishing.
7) Hot Sauce to Clean Copper
You can pick any sauce from your kitchen to clean copper. It can be your homemade sauce too. Due to the acidic nature of ingredients used in the sauce, it works as a great cleaner. For cleaning copper, apply 2-3 coatings of sauce on the copper item. Leave it for half an hour. Rub the tarnished area with a scrubbing sponge. You will see the tarnish coming out. Rinse the copper item with plain warm water. Dry it off using a soft cloth. It will give a polished look.
8) Mayonnaise and Salt to Clean Copper
Mayonnaise can also be used as a copper cleaning agent. Indeed, the yummiest way to clean copper. You just need to mix 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise with 1 tablespoon of salt. Apply this mixture on the heavily tarnished area. Leave it for 5 minutes. Rub it off with a cloth. You will observe the green color of tarnish on the cloth. Wash the copper item with plain water. Dry it off using a soft cloth.
