Who doesn’t like to have beautiful things in front of his or her eyes? I can utterly say; the answer is always positive.
Copper is a metal that beautifies our surroundings with its shiny polished form.
This is the most used metal found in different household things like pots, jewelry, kitchen wires, etc. Even we use copper to harden the softer metals.
As an example, liquid gold is mixed with copper to prepare solid gold. But the problem is, we keep our copper things exposed to air. Copper reacts to air and develops a patina.
This tarnishing of copper makes things greenish-blue. Thus, beauty turns to ugly things if we don’t clean them.
Here in this article, I am going to show you how to clean the copper in different ways. You will get to know how we can bring back the shiny polished look again.
Contents
How Can You Clean Copper?
There are lots of ways to clean the copper made things. Usually, these are used to clean them:
- Lemon
- Vinegar
- Salt
- Ketchup
- Baking Soda etc
There is no alternative to regular cleaning. But it’s a matter of habit. If you don’t have enough time to look at the copper, then these products can help you a lot.
Almost all of them are available in your nearest shops. Again, these are pretty common things we use for different tasks. So, cleaning copper is not so hard to think and do.
How to Clean Copper and Brass Utensils?
Cleaning copper and brass utensils can be done in simple steps. There are natural ways to clean copper and brass. You need to wash the utensils in warm water.
Scratch the thing gently and don’t try to scrub hard. You can use tomato ketchup to clean the brass utensils. Just apply the ketchup and leave the thing about an hour. Then rinse the thing and you will get an amazing result. You can also use lemon and salt mixture to clean the brass items.
You can bring the beauty of copper utensils with lemon and salt, vinegar, etc. A mixture of flour, coarse salt, and vinegar make copper shining while polishing the mixture with a soft cloth.
Actually, these are the natural ways to clean copper and brass utensils. There are many chemical cleaning products available on the market nowadays. But I suggest you choose the natural ways of cleaning.
How to Clean Copper?
Making the copper utensils brighter like the newer ones requires your attention and time. Regular cleaning removes the layer of the greenish-blue or distorted color of copper.
How to Clean Copper Pots?
You can clean copper pots naturally with just soap and water. Scratch the copper pot with a wet soft sponge or cloth and few drops of the dishwasher. This will work superbly if you do it on a regular basis.
Leave the pot alone for a couple of minutes. After rinsing, wash the pots with normal temperature water. Getting polished look requires a bit more things or a mixture of different things.
You can apply a mixture of lemon and baking soda, vinegar and salt or lemon and salt. All these mixtures polish the copper pots well.
How to Clean Copper Sink?
Copper sink is the major and common part of our kitchen. We use this thing at least twice a day. The leftovers, oil, salt etc. and other things get in touch with the sink while washing the utensils or cooking purposes.
The water from the tap attached near or on the top of the sink is also a reason alongside those for making copper sink tarnished. Even there’s no chance to keep the copper sink unexposed to the air. So, day by day the color and beauty of copper sink gets damaged.
To clean the copper sink, you need to scrub the sink with a scrubber with dishwasher and water mixture. Then wash the sink properly. Rinse the sink after cleaning it and let it dry to shine again. You can use baking soda to remove absurd stains from it. There is also copper protectant or wax available to preserve the actual look.
How to Clean Copper Jewelry?
You can apply lemon juice and baking soda paste on the copper jewelry. This paste removes the layer of tarnish and makes the jewelry shining as the primitive situation. Salt and vinegar solution is also a good treatment for tarnished copper jewelry.
Ketchup helps to improve the detailing. You can apply any of these with a soft cloth and rub the jewelry. Then rinse them and leave for few minutes. Later, washing them properly will make the copper jewelry neat and clean.
Clean Copper Pipe
Make a paste of vinegar with baking soda and salt and then apply it on each corner or bends alongside the plain surface of the copper pipe. This will remove dirt, grime and the greenish-blue color of the pipe. Rub gently with the pressure of your hand, especially in the areas where the pipe is more tarnished or started to get a rusty look.
You can use pipe brush or cleaner to reach inside the copper pipe. Don’t leave the pipe wet after applying the paste. There are more ingredients to clean the copper pipe such as calcium lime and rust remover dilution. Soaking pipe in white vinegar can be also a great idea.
How to Clean Copper Coins?
Collecting copper coins or pennies is a great hobby. But copper coins get tarnished over time. If you don’t clean them, they will lose their beauty and traditional look. There are lots of ways to clean these copper coins. A simple pencil eraser can clean the copper pennies.
Rub the eraser gently on both side of the coin and the dirt and brown oxidation will go away. You can use a brush dipped in salt and acetic acid mixture and clean the coins.
Tomato ketchup is also effective in copper coins cleaning. The application process is almost same. Apply, rinse and dry the coins and the oxidation marks will be vanished.
How to Clean Copper Mugs?
Copper mugs are beautiful to look and entirely safe for health. These mugs enhance the taste and aroma of the drink. There are simple ways to keep copper mugs clean. You dishwashing liquid or bar soap with a soft sponge and scrub the mug gently in a circular motion.
Then rinse the mug with water and remove all the dirt and grime in this process. You can use either cold water or warm water, that’s won’t create any problem. At last, make the mug dry with a cotton cloth. To remove tarnishes from the copper mugs, you can apply salt and lemon paste, vinegar and baking soda paste, or ketchup. The application is always indifferent.
Cleaning Miscellaneous Copper Items
Researchers said that copper has bacteria-killing properties. Beside this, this is anti-inflammatory, digestion helper which are healthy qualities. So, using or keeping copper made items is both benignant and satisfactory to the beauty of surroundings.
These items can be copper pans, kettle, teapots, clappers, wire, etc. and many more. With the pace of time, all these get dirt and become tarnished. Then they start to having rust and thus, your favorite and most used things get damaged. So, cleaning these items is a must.
Coat the copper item in salt and pour white vinegar over the salt. Leave the item for 15-20 seconds. Then all the dirt and tarnish will vanish. Wash the item with water and make it dry. This is how you can clean copper pan, wire, kettle, cups, etc. You can also use other cleaning methods I have mentioned earlier.
List of Items to Clean Copper
This is the list to clean copper items:
- Salt
- Lemon juice or lime
- Vinegar
- Baking soda
- Tomato ketchup
- Flour
- Muriatic acid
These are commonly used things what will clean copper utensils and other things. Let’s see how these ingredients clean copper and how to apply them.
Vinegar & Salt
There might be questions come to our mind.
- Will vinegar clean copper?
- Can you clean copper with vinegar?
- Why does vinegar clean copper?
There happens a chemical reaction when you use vinegar with salt to clean the copper items. Vinegar has acidic elements that remove copper oxide or reduce oxidation from the copper surface.
This oxidation is what we call copper tarnishing. Vinegar with salt eradicates the dullness of copper things.
You can also use vinegar, salt, and flour paste to polish and clean the copper things. Mix a tablespoon salt and a tablespoon vinegar and add some flour to make the paste.
Later use the paste over the tarnished coppers. After a few minutes, wash them and make dry. Doing regularly can keep things always shiny and brighter.
How to Clean Copper [Infographic]
Ketchup
Tomato ketchup is not only a food item or appetizer loved by most people. This can be a treatment for tarnished copper items. Pour out the tomato ketchup in a pot or plate. Then use a brush to make a coat over copper items with the ketchup.
Leave the items and wait for at least 15 minutes. Rinse them with cold or warm water and make them dry with a cloth. Then you will see your copper thing has got no marks of tarnish. So, you got the answer of, “will ketchup clean copper?”.
Baking Soda
You can clean copper with baking soda. To make this effective, mix baking soda with lemon juice and make a paste to do the cleaning task.
Apply the paste on those copper to its crevices. Rinse the copper item with warm or cold water. Then dry that thing. Baking soda also helps to remove the grime from the copper made things.
Muriatic Acid
This is also known as HCL (Hydrochloric acid). This powerful chemical has an active reaction to metal but never damages it. Copper remains resistant to non-oxidizing acids such as muriatic acid. But muriatic acid can also be used to remove the tarnishing of the copper items.
This acid works effectively by removing the greenish-blue oxidation without weakening. The absolute copper will be left after you use muriatic acid. But applying this thing requires more attention, you need to be careful.
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Commonly, muriatic acid is used as a cleaner of tough stains of sinks and bathroom. So, there’s no worry if you think, “will muriatic acid clean copper?” or “how to clean copper with muriatic acid?”.
Copper Cleaning Checklist
I am giving you a copper cleaning checklist. This will help you in every case of cleaning your loving and regular used copper things:
Avoid
What does need to avoid to clean copper? Yes, there are some safe caution and things to avoid while you are cleaning your copper household things.
- Do not make haste while cleaning.
- The fast you clean, the fast will be the result gone.
- Avoid keeping your tap or water source on.
- Because simultaneously waterfall on the copper items can create oxidation or tarnishing.
- Don’t keep your things open in the air if they aren’t for regular use.
- Oxygen from the air can react and discolor the copper surfaces.
- Avoid using harsh chemicals. They may harm your health.
Jewelry, pots, pans, coins or whatever it is made of copper needs to clean at a certain period of time. Though cleaning is a repetitive task, it can increase the beauty of the copper items.
There’s no alternative to regular cleaning. This cleaning requires less cleaning ingredients and more attention. Choose the natural cleaning methods for a satisfactory result.
I have suggested the most effective ways of copper cleaning. I hope this article will make your concept more clear about how to clean copper items.
Now, It’s Over To You!
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