Cleaning Copper, What should I use????

[cnyeco1]

I have a copper sculpture that is huge and sits in a small pond. It is entirely made out of copper plates. The copper over the years has corroded and has that white/blueish coating. I would like to clean it up a little so you can tell it is copper. What would be a good cleaner to use?

I am thinking some CLR or lime away in a spray bottle but don't know how that would do. Anyone ever done it? I don't want to rub it out, this thing is big. it's like a water fall sculpture, with alternating pedals on it that the water drips down.

Thanks in advance.

 

[ImportTuner]

Since you did not want to rub it (Brasso), try vinegar with a little bit of salt .. cleans copper really well ..

 

[hdshinn]

I personally wouldn't bother. It's the patina on copper that appeals to me as it ages. I've never tried anything like CLR to remove that patina but my gut reaction is it wouldn't do much. There are several products on the market for cleaning and polishing copper but they all involve some elbow grease.

I've never seen copper tarnish to "white". Normally it goes to a dull brown then ages to a green.

I'd love to see a photo of the sculpture.

 

[afx]

I believe you could put a plastic bag over it and fill the bag with a good ammount of ammonia and it should whipe right off after a day in the sun (the fumes are what works), other than that vinnegar and salt is the way to go.

 

[darkk]

Why would you want to clean all that hard earned patina off of it? A lot of people go through a lot of trouble to get copper that way...

 

[58Yeoman]

Tarnex. Is it still made? I don't know.

 

[deranged]

Scotch Brite

 

[Bull]

On the home shows, I think people use lemon juice or ketchup to clean copper sometimes.

 

[jamesemery728]

Bar Keepers Friend (cleanser)

 

[38Chevy454]

Anything acidic, as it dissolves the oxide. CLR has phosphoric acid if my memory is right as it's active ingredient. Vinegar is mild acetic acid. Using salt, cleanser or anything that adds to the mechanical effect is just that. The acid is what is doing the real work to reduce the oxide coating.

 

[Frank The Plumber]

Do you have fish or plants in the pond? If so remove the item from the pond or you will kill everything in the pond cleaning it, no matter what you use.

Take it to a polisher and have them put a clear coat on it. You can have it progressed to an oxide state of brown and have it cleared as well.

Letting it go green can cause pitting and permanent staining.

 

[tcsalvage]

with the price of scrap copper through the roof you might want to leave it green. most thieves don't know copper turns green with age; but if you make it copper colored again they DO know that color! around here they are stealing ground wires off of electric towers, church roofs and gutters, plumbing out of homes for sale and everything else they can get there grubby little fingers on.

 

[Zeke]

+1 on the patina. If someone looks at it and doesn't know it's copper the way it sits, they don't need to know. Who's to impress here?

 

[Frank The Plumber]

I have some pretty unintelligent looking scrappers around here, both in appearance and motion, and most likely drunk as skunks as well. They all know green is copper.
They took all of the shopping carts from the store here last week. The guy came into the store and rolled out a long line of them, loaded them on his truck and drove away. He put on a yellow vest so they thought he worked there, they even gave him some twine.

 

[tcsalvage]

I have some pretty unintelligent looking scrappers around here, both in appearance and motion, and most likely drunk as skunks as well. They all know green is copper.
They took all of the shopping carts from the store here last week. The guy came into the store and rolled out a long line of them, loaded them on his truck and drove away. He put on a yellow vest so they thought he worked there, they even gave him some twine.

not around here, they use to sneek in and steal the soda cans i left outside but never touched the aluminum engine parts. they would have taken any copper radiator, wire or pipe i forget to lock up but i left some copper sheet out a while back and the next day it was still there so either i got lucky or they haven't figured it out yet. now i have cameras everywhere so nothing grows legs.

 

[pysen78]

Around here the subways sometimes stops because the scrappers cut of power cables in order to steal the copper. A few years back they even raided graveyards for metal ornaments.

The problem has been reasonably stemmed, since most larger metal recyclers now only pay by bank transfer only, but I can't understand why they just don't make it a law. Why allow cash payment at all?

On topic: Pictures would be good! Is it possible that the white stuff is limescale from the water? Would make more sense, maybe. I can understand your want for the copper to stay shiny, especially if it's more of a contemporary piece rather than antique looking, by shape. You would have to clear-coat it for it to stay that way, though.
A mix of wallpaper glue and vinegar works really good for removing oxide on brass. Should work on copper too.