Cream Of Tartar and Aluminum

[Tom Neitzel]

I've been wanting to post a few before and after pictures of using cream of tartar to remove the dark tarnish on aluminum.  As we followed Will's recent saga in cleaning the aluminum heart star pan I had suggested using it but forgot to tell him the whole process.

This tarnish cannot be removed by any of the normal process like paint stripper, lye (the pan will dissolve if you are not careful).  You can scrub it off with steel wool or a wire brush but you will scratch the bejeebers out of the pan.  

Paul Beer stopped by last week so I had to get to work on the pictures of our next chapter in our Plett Pan article.  Included in that are a couple aluminum pans from Standard Mfg and Nordicware.  Both of them had some tarnish and a little corrosion so I decided to clean them up.  There will be a total of 4 posts to get all the pictures here.

What I did was to make sure all the organic matter (like seasoning) was removed first.  I do that mainly with the self-cleaning oven, but there was not much and I didn't want to wait.  I hit them with Dawn Power Dissolver for 30 minutes, then rinsed.  The before pictures are after that.

I made a solution of 3 tablespoons of Cream of Tartar in about 2 gallons of water in a stainless pan on the stove.  I heated it to boiling and reduced the heat to just keep it below a boil.  The recipe is 2 tablespoon per gallon.  I forgot to measure the water and had to add a little so I was a little short on the tartar.

The pans were immersed for 20 to 30 minutes.  You can watch the process.  All of a sudden the dark areas will vanish.  You don't want to leave it much more that 45 minutes to an hour.  If it's going to help you will see the changes fairly quickly.

Just take the pan out, rinse it off, buff will a little 0000 steel wool and you are done.  It's almost magic.

It removes the tarnish but does not remove any corrosion.  It does lighten it so if you look at the pictures, not the dark areas, particularly on the NordicWare pan in the before and after.  There was a bit of corrosion (pitting).  The cream of tartar lightens the pits but they are still there.  You can really see the machining/marks from the mold in the after pictures.  You also might notice some scratches in the after pictures.  If you look at the before you will see they were already on the pan - the cleaning process did not add them.

Here's the bottom of the Standard Mfg pan.  (by the way, these pans are likely from the 1950's).

Tom

[Tom Neitzel]

Top of the Standard pan.

Those bumps you see in the upper right are casting flaws.  They are bumps.

[Tom Neitzel]

NordicWare bottom.

[Tom Neitzel]

NordicWare top.

[Will Person]

Wow.  Nice.   I have to finish the saga of my gem pan.   Time has been tight.   Been way too busy for any cleaning.  


Will 8-)

[I. Gomez]

Nice job and thanks for the info... I'm think I will try this out this weekend

[Tom Neitzel]

Gomez, if you do decide to try it, look for Cream Of Tartar in a store that offers spices in bulk.  It gets a little pricey (although you don't need much) in those little bottles.

Tom

[I. Gomez]

Gomez, if you do decide to try it, look for Cream Of Tartar in a store that offers spices in bulk.  It gets a little pricey (although you don't need much) in those little bottles.

Tom

Thanks for the advise Tom!  I will try and remember to take before and after pics to post.

[Jerry Cermack]

Tom.....I need some help on cream of tartar.   I mixed up and used your recipe on this little Wagner #3 Oval Roaster and it didnt phase the inside much at all?   "The recipe is 2 tablespoon per gallon."  I left it in the hot water for about 45 minutes.  What did I do wrong??

[Jerry Cermack]

I also got spots on the bottom now that I did not have before I left it in the Tartar solution for about 45 minutes.  Is there any way to get those spots off?

[Tom Neitzel]

Jerry, I think a little touch up with 0000 steel wool will take care of the bottom.  You can see a little haze on the whole piece from the treatment.  It should polish right up with the steel wool (do the whole piece) .  That's some pretty healthy pitting inside.  That could actually be carbon in the pits.  Cream of Tartar won't touch anything other than the tarnish.  If it was mine, I'd  put it in a self-cleaning oven cycle, then treat it with the cream of tartar and 0000 steel wool again.  That still might not get it all.

Tom

[Jerry Cermack]

 If it was mine, I'd  put it in a self-cleaning oven cycle, then treat it with the cream of tartar and 0000 steel wool again.  That still might not get it all.

Tom

Tom, I did put it in my self cleaning over first.  That got all the black off that was mostly on the bottom....I did a magnalite skillet in the oven at the same time with the roaster bottom.  Then I put the roaster bottom in the Tartar solution.  It didnt lighten the gray areas much at all.  I'm not talking about the pits.  And it left some spots I cant get off on the bottom as you can see in the before and after pictures.   I might put it in self clean again and see what happens to those tartar bath spots?

[Tom Neitzel]

 If it was mine, I'd  put it in a self-cleaning oven cycle, then treat it with the cream of tartar and 0000 steel wool again.  That still might not get it all.

Tom

Tom, I did put it in my self cleaning over first.  That got all the black off that was mostly on the bottom....I did a magnalite skillet in the oven at the same time with the roaster bottom.  Then I put the roaster bottom in the Tartar solution.  It didnt lighten the gray areas much at all.  I'm not talking about the pits.  And it left some spots I cant get off on the bottom as you can see in the before and after pictures.   I might put it in self clean again and see what happens to those tartar bath spots?

The oven won't do anything with those spots.  I would use the steel wool - they should buff right off.  The tartar is magical, but it won't always take all the discoloration.  I've got a 16qt Presto aluminum pressure cooker that I've used for years.  The bottom 2 inches where the water is is a bit darker.  I've used the pot to clean other items in a tartar solution and it hasn't completely lightened.

[Tom Neitzel]

A couple other thoughts (I have to think hard about things I do without really thinking about it  ;D).  Put a knife, spoon or fork (stainless flatware) under the pan in the solution to keep it from sitting flat on the bottom of the container.  If you look close, there are little bubbles from the reaction going on.  Keeping it at an angle will keep them from collecting - that may be where the spots came from.

You can continue to try to lighten the interior.  Just put the solution in, maybe fill the pot just half full or nearly full, it just needs to be somewhere above the dark area, and let it simmer for an hour or so.  Cool and hit with the 0000 steel wool.  It should slowly lighten.  Since the inside is pitted already you've got nothing to really hurt.  I've left things up to 2 hours.  There will be a slight frosting (like you always get), but I've not had anything that didn't come off with a slight steel wool buffing.

Tom

[Jeff Seago]

Jerry if all this does not work and you don't have much money in the pan you could find someone that has a walnut shell blaster.  The walnut shells will be able to get in those pitted areas pretty easily and it leaves a dull aluminum finish that you can clean right up.