Removing Grease and Tarnish from Copper Pans, Pots and Kettles

I found this copper tea kettle at a second hand store for a dollar or two. It was completely black. I bought another one a few months back that was quite tarnished but had black oily stuff on it and I wanted to clean it up and it wasn't coming off with just soap. 

 

I also didn't want to spend hours buffing it as you would with silver. Because I was just getting them for decoration and potential emergency use if we ever needed to cook on our wood burning stoves, I thought a tea kettle or two may be a good investment but I wanted something I could use as a decoration as well.  

I don't own a tea kettle and these would not be used as I rarely drink hot tea. I have an iced tea maker that I use to make herbal teas but if I did need to boil water, these would come in handy at some point. 

 

I also have collected some oil lanterns that I can use in an emergency. Most homes don't have them anymore but I also purchased some mineral spirits which burn cleaner and better. I learned that from a man who collected oil lamps and used them regularly and he told me he always uses mineral spirits so I purchased about five gallons of the stuff for emergencies. 

 

I pray I never need them but if I do, I will have it. I also have about 8 gallons of olive oil I could also use if needed. I have about 8 gallons of coconut oil which also could be used. Basically, any oil can be used. 

I am a preparedness person and have just about anything someone would need in an emergency but I pray that I never find out if I forgot something. 

I also have a large bin full of candles and have purchased many sconces that can hold them so I can have them on the wall in the hall, or rooms if needed. I have about five huge bags of votive candles and in an emergency, you can use those and clay pots to heat a small space or tent. 

With that, I decided it would be good to have these tea pots for my stash of emergency stuff. I didn't want them in their black and dirty condition. So, if you know me or read this blog, anything that can make any job faster, I will figure it out. 

 

I tried several different types of cleaner and the two that worked the best are "Totally Awesome" brand. The Orange one with Citrus worked well on the oily gunky one.  But the one that worked best on the tarnish, was the "Rust, Lime, Calcium" one similar to CLR but this brand is only $1 a bottle and worked great. 

I would spray the entire thing in the kitchen sink as it won't hurt the steel but actually cleaned it while it cleaned the kettle. I would get the entire thing wet and then let it sit and drip. 

Next time I entered the kitchen, I would spray it again and let it get fully wet and then walk away and do something else. 

I did this for a few days and you can see how the drip pattern cleaned it off at the top first. I did have to do some scrubbing with my fingernail on the oily black one as there were dark spots that needed a little peeling but for the most part, the entire thing cleaned itself as I just sprayed it down. 

I went through about 2/3 of a bottle of cleaner so it cost me under three dollars for each pot in the end or less depending on the cost of the pot. I wish I had taken before and after shots of how dirty the pots were but like so many projects, I start them and then think that it would make a great blog post half way though the project. 

You would think after five years of blogging, I would get it. I still am not much of a computer person and go to the phone book first. It just isn't how I think. It may be that I love people and am a people person so I don't think about things electronic until after the fact. I do think I am getting better but my kids still joke me about it at times. 

I probably wouldn't need all these lanterns in an emergency but I could always use them for trade. The other thing I have purchased for trade, wind up alarm clocks. It is hard to find them anymore so I grab them when I see on that works well. It would be better than a sun dial I figure and no one has wind up watches anymore and they are even more hard to find. 

Here is to hoping we never need any of it! :-)