Do you want to clean a copper pan, but don’t know what the right solution is? Some blogs say vinegar is a miracle, while others preach ketchup… today we will try several methods and see which one will actually help you clean your copper pots & pans!

In this video, we are restoring an old copper pan that I found at the thrift store for $4.

This pan is labeled SLT & Made in France. From my research, I believe this to be an older Mauviel pan made for the Sur La Table stores. This pan is very heavy and thick, feels amazing in the hand. Has a stainless steel inner and a heavy-duty cast iron handle.

I love the idea of using natural remedies or solutions to clean stuff, but sometimes you just need to bring in the big guns.

While ketchup, tomato paste, vinegar, baking soda, etc will all have some sort of results, nothing will touch the power of Bar Keeps Friend. This experiment blew my mind.

Grab a can of Bar Keepers Friend here: https://amzn.to/3LFVmmN

My results restoring a copper pan using traditional methods.

Castille Soap – Did nothing to this pan. I started with this just to see what would happen & because I wanted to give the pan a general clean before starting. The tarnish was not touched by just the soap.

Tomato Paste only – Cleaned a bunch of the tarnish off. Was really surprised by how well this worked. Only did one coat, next time I would try 2-3 and see if that makes a difference.

Baking soda & vinegar – This brought out more of the traditional copper color in areas. The tomato did a good job cleaning, but it seemed like this combo started to actually polish the pan and get the deep stuff out. I did two passes with this, the second one didn’t have the same effect.

Bar Keepers Friend – I would SKIP all other natural solutions or home remedies. Just use this. Don’t waste your time, you most likely won’t find a better solution. A can of this stuff costs like $2 at Walmart and will clean anything. It seemed like years of tarnish just wiped right off with this stuff!

So this was a fun experiment, I really had a great time doing this and documenting it. My plan is to restore many more pans like this in the years to come. I love watching metal transform in front of my eyes, it’s addicting!

I hope this post was helpful to you and gets your pans nice and shiny!