Removing Tarnish and Dirt, Thrift Store Makeovers

Removing Tarnish and Dirt, Thrift Store Makeovers

Hi again friends.  I’m back to the thrift store with a few more makeovers.  These 3 little mini projects all involve cleaning.  It’s a messy job but someone’s got to do it.  Time to uncover your diamond in the rough

Cleaning Brass

First up, I found this great solid brass tray at the thrift store.  It’s beautiful and  30″ wide, huge.  It was probably  a mid century modern table top at some point in it’s life but the legs are long gone. There is etching in the brass but it gets lost in the aged  patina.

The patina on the tray was nice, like a brushed brass but the tray had some weird stains and pitting.  I couldn’t just spot clean the tray, it was all or nothing.

You can see what spot cleaning does for the tray.

Removing just the surface tarnish and patina revealed how pitted and stained this brass tray really was.

I wish I could say I found a super simple cleaning trick, but this one was really just elbow grease, which is really just another word for lots of scrubbing.

I did try Tarn-X but this was really just an aged patina and not tarnish.

Brasso should have worked, after all brass is in it’s name. Not so much.

I had the most luck with Barkeepers Friend.  Dampen a rag, add a sprinkling of Barkeepers Friend and start scrubbing.  Barkeeper’s Friend is really just a mild cleanser but it works.

I did find a youtube video on finishing a Moroccan tabletop .  He too, had an old brass tabletop but he also had the legs to work with which also needed repair.  When he cleaned his brass tray, instead of just elbow grease he used a rotary tool for the edging.  I’m not sure it worked any better than just hand scrubbing.  You be the judge and do what works for you.

Now it’s a beautiful tray.  Can you imagine what a fantastic centerpiece this would be at a dinner party, especially as a charcuterie tray?

Unscrubbable Ground in Dirt

Another thrift store find was this  old metal terrarium.  It was only $5 and the only reason it was probably still on the shelf was that it was dirty.

Online, similarly aged terrariums go for about $100.  I can deal with a little dirt.

There were a couple rust spots where water would have sat, but mostly just dirt.

Scrubbing with a rag and soap and water did nothing for this aged, ground in dirt.  A final option would be a quick spritz of spray paint, but I wanted to keep the original paint job if I had a choice.

Do you know what did work to remove the layers of dirt?  Goof Off.  Probably because it also does a great job of removing Latex Paint.  Just dampen your rag with the Goof Off, and rub the years of dirt away.  Did I also remove the outermost layer of paint? Maybe that’s why it worked so well.

A little rust in the corners, but overall an excellent job.

Removing Tarnish on Silver

When I found this set of silverplated goblets at the thrift store, I thought, what fun to have a dinner party with these hoity-toity goblets.  At one point I did think that I would get a collection of different shaped silver plated goblets but, with the exception of a few, it seemed all the ones I found had this same basic shape and stem design.

I could work with these.  Just one problem, they were all heavily tarnished.

This time I went to the Tarn  X first.  It should have worked but it was just meh.

Next up, a science project.

Line a pot (or sink, or baking dish) with aluminum foil, shiny side up.

Add the silver pieces you want to clean to the pot.

Add a tablespoon of baking soda and a tablespoon of salt to the pan.

Add water to completely cover your items.  There are 3 goblets in this large pot.

Heat your water to boiling and boil for about 4 minutes.  Or add boiling water to your sink or baking dish.

The aluminum foil will become blackened and tarnished.

After the fizzing stops and the science experiment seems to be complete, remove the goblet from the water with tongs.  Rinse with cool water.

Most of the tarnish came off with the first attempt with the exception of the tarnish that was deeply embedded.

You can repeat your science experiment with new foil to see if any more tarnish is removed.

Some of the goblets that I removed from the water were almost completely clean.

The remainder of the tarnish came off easily when I buffed with the Tarn X.

All ready for my dinner party.

As I was reading up on tarnish removal I found several different methods.  All involved aluminum foil but most varied on amount of salt and baking soda.  Some used no salt at all.

There were a few sites that attempted to explain the science behind the cleaning, but I just needed something that worked.  I do think this would make a good science fair project. 😆   Maybe one of my grandkids will clean all my silver (plate) for me some day.

Until next time, stay inspired, and start cleaning.