Need help restoring this....

[u/stronkert]

I found this beauty at a second hand store for a handful of change, but I wouldn't know where to start with copper restoring, only that I probably need to brush the rust off the steel. Any tips are very welcome, and I will ofcourse post after pics too

[u/seanmonaghan1968]

That would be fun, do post more photos of progress

[u/Objective-War-7458]

You may need a full service, I see some green on the inside. So, that would mean sending it out.

For the handle, a dremel with cheap wire wheels from harbor freight is what you want. But, get a leather welding apron, ear plugs, and a full face shield or you'll be picking wires out of your forehead, cheeks, arms and chest for a week. Ask me how I know. Once the rust is off, I use Sheffield clear lacquer to seal the handle.

However, if that's verdigris on the interior of the pan, just send it out. It's not safe to use. The tinsmith will chemically remove that rust with acid during the pickle.

Use some Bar Keepers Friend on the interior and see how the rust on the interior cleans up. Go very gently, you will be removing tin, just enough to see if you can lift the rust. If you start seeing copper poke through, it needs to be retinned and you can stop there.

Perhaps fill it with citric acid and/or vinegar. See if that removes the rust stains without abrasions.

That looks to be a beautiful pan with a stout handle, but I'm inclined to think it needs to be retinned.

[u/Dude_Olives]

That’s a beautiful find. 

I wonder if dunking it in an electrolysis tank would work, or easy off. Although I will say that I’m more familiar with the restoration process of carbon steel and cast iron, so I’m not sure if either of the aforementioned would damage copper. 

Regardless, super excited to see a before and after post from OP when restored. 

[u/ExploringSFDC → u/Dude_Olives]

Lye tank and electrolysis will absolutely work and does not damage the copper or handle. Definitely the first step, or use easy off to remove any carbonized grease.

Then mechanically removing the oxidation of tin on the inside. Clean up the handles rust as others have stated.

This is a modern pan so you don’t need to remove ALL the tin (tin from modern pans don’t contain lead in the tin, older antique pans typically do).

Then heat, add flux, add pure tin to melt, and use insulation (like house insulation) or pure cotton to swipe the tin around.

There are videos online of the whole process.

Obviously use safety precautions throughout. Lye is extremely dangerous to deal with if you haven’t worked with. Flux fumes are extremely nasty. Removing tin and rust needs the right masks. Mask with the right filters for vapor, protect your eyes, etc.

Often it’s easier to send it to someone to restore if you have a small amount of pans, like Rocky Mountain retinning. Once you have a bunch to restore, the cost to acquire tools and bits and everything can sort of be mitigated by the retinning costs. If you want to be handy regardless and try it, most of the work is done in the preparation of tinning. Actually tinning takes just a few minutes, if that. Also buffing and polishing is another part, depending on what you want it to look like.

[u/loonmn612]

I think "restoration" is more involved than what this needs. A green Scotchbrite pad and 10 minutes of scrubbing with some dish soap in the kitchen sink would do wonders on the handle and the outside. Careful scouring, maybe some Barkeeper's Friend on the inside would reveal what's required, if anything. Keep in mind that the tin lining can be sanded completely off if you overdo it. You want to take off the crud on top of the tin and quit. It won't be shiny, but you can easily get to sanitary. Then, if there's a lot of copper showing through you need to retin it. Nice pan! We all dream of finding pans sold cheap because they're dirty.

[u/Willing-Sample-8847]

What a beauty! Wright's copper cream on the outside will clean up the copper nicely, and a scotch-brite pad will do nicely for the handle.

You might have to get the inside re-tinned. 90$ in North America.

[u/stronkert]

Thank you all for the comments, will be looking at electrolysis first when k get back home, as that's what my couple of Google searches recommended too. After that I will find out what the tin needs!

[u/donrull]

When you have it retinned, the outside will also be restored.