How to Clean and Brighten Tin-lined Copper

A tin lining will darken and smooth with time and use.

Tin-lined copper cookware cleans up beautifully, and will last several lifetimes with a little attention. The tin darkens, hardens slightly and smooths with time and use, all of which actually improve a pan’s performance.

If you prefer a shiny look, you can brighten a tin lining with the following simple galvanic technique. This process is completely non-toxic and food-safe, and assumes that the tin has been cleaned of food residues before you start.

The recipe for a 3 quart tin-lined copper pan:

• Fill the pan to the brim with water and bring to a boil.
• Remove the pan from the heat and add:
• 1 Tbs sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
• 1 Tbs non-iodized table salt
• Make a pad of four folds of aluminum foil roughly the size of the bottom your pan.
• Submerge the aluminum foil in the pan using a small ceramic or pyrex bowl to hold it in place. Don’t use a metal bowl or utensils, as they interrupt the galvanic process.
• Let sit for a minimum of 15 minutes, just to make sure you’ve realized all the potential of the reaction. The telling sign of success is the re-brightening of the tin. Once you’re satisfied, remove the foil and wash the pan with soap and water. Any tarnish not transferred to the foil will wipe easily away.

Why does this work?

Oxidized tin is the cathode (negative pole) in this reaction, and the aluminum is the anode (positive pole). The light current (literally flowing electrons) created from negative to positive transfers metallic oxides on the outgoing tin side to the incoming aluminum side, such that the tin will brighten and the aluminum will darken. You can see the oxide transfer from the pan to the aluminum foil.

Oxidation transfers from the tin in the pan to the aluminum foil.

The pan in the example took 10–12 minutes to noticeably brighten. You can simply empty the pan and wipe it down with a clean cloth, or give it a bath in some warm, soapy water. Voila!

The brightened pan. Total time on task, 15 minutes, 12 of which were passive.

Notice in the photos that there is a distinct line between deoxidized tin (below)and oxidized tin (above) — done so you could see the difference! Filling the pan to the brim gives complete galvanic coverage.

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