This post is sponsored by Bar Keepers Friend, however all opinions are 100% mine. Affiliate links may be contained in this post.
I’m not even gonna lie – I had to google what copper was supposed to look like to make sure I was just cleaning it and not stripping it off this cookie jar.
That’s how bad it was.
Or how pathetic I am.
I picked up this sweet little cookie jar (that has never once housed cookies, only applesauce pouches and fruit snacks) on a Goodwill excursion a few years back. It was actually a half-off Goodwill day and I found it at the end of the day for a whopping $3 so not only was I shocked it was still there, but it was a great deal.
I had originally thought I might spray paint it in order to cover up all the spots on it. I’m not sure what all the “spots” were as it didn’t look like rust, but I figured it was beyond the point of no return. Not wanting to loose the copper feel though, I left it as is on my counter for the past three years.
I’m really glad I never went crazy with the spray paint on it. Because it looks like this now…
I know, right?
Here’s how I did it…
How to Clean Copper
You’ll Need:
- Water
- Damp Cloth (an older one you don’t care to mess up)
- Bar Keepers Friend Cleanser & Polish
- Gloves
Step 1
Rub the damp cloth over the copper to make it slightly wet.
Step 2
If you haven’t already, put the gloves on. Speaking from personal experience, if you do this without gloves, the cleanser will dry your hands out, so I don’t recommend going without the gloves.
Sprinkle Bar Keepers Friend Cleanser & Polish onto the copper. If you are working with a medium to larger sized item, work in small sections like I did.
Using the damp cloth, scrub the cleanser all around on the copper until you see the true shade of the copper appear.
On those spots I had, I did have to use a little more elbow grease to remove them, but they eventually came off just fine.
The image below was about halfway through my cleaning.
You can see the right side has been cleaned and polished with Bar Keepers Friend and the left has not.
Step 3
After you have cleaned the entire piece with Bar Keepers Friend, I suggest rinsing, then washing it with a little dishwashing liquid to remove any cleanser residue. Dry it with a towel afterwards to prevent water spots.
Crazy, right?
Grunt Labor saw it afterwards and said he never even knew it was supposed to look like that.
I didn’t tell him I had to go look up what copper was supposed to look like so I would know. 😉
Have you used Bar Keepers Friend before?
You might also wanna see…
How to Remove Rust from Chrome
How to Restore Hardware
You know you don’t wanna miss any of this crazy.
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Disclosure: This post was a collaboration with Bar Keepers Friend, however all opinions and admittance of not knowing what copper was supposed to look like are 100% mine.