Has anyone successfully flattened copper pan bottoms?

[Caslon]

I have a treasured set of 3 Revere Ware copper bottom sauce pans. They're 45 years old if they're a day. I just spent an hour using Brasso to clean up the discolored bottoms. They look new again. All 3 still sit reasonably flat, but has anyone ever been able to pound them back new flat again? I Googled this question and was surprised to find hit results of people doing this with varied success.

I inherited them from my parents a decade or so ago. My old man got kind of senile and he'd go to boil some eggs and forget about them. The water would boil away and the eggs exploded leaving egg all over the kitchen walls. That Revere Ware copper bottom pan IS a tiny bit bowed on the bottom, not as flat as new.

 

[Andy M.]

I've has success with old pans like yours using a piece of wood and a rubber mallet or hammer. Place the piece of wood across the bottom and hit it with the hammer. At first, the wood would rock back and forth because of the bow but when you get it flat it will not move.

 

[Bigjim68]

I have a treasured set of 3 Revere Ware copper bottom sauce pans. They're 45 years old if they're a day. I just spent an hour using Brasso to clean up the discolored bottoms. They look new again. All 3 still sit reasonably flat, but has anyone ever been able to pound them back new flat again? I Googled this question and was surprised to find hit results of people doing this with varied success.

I inherited them from my parents a decade or so ago. My old man got kind of senile and he'd go to boil some eggs and forget about them. The water would boil away and the eggs exploded leaving egg all over the kitchen walls. That Revere Ware copper bottom pan IS a tiny bit bowed on the bottom, not as flat as new.

If your pans are Revere with copper bottoms, they are not copper but have a copper wash applied to stainless. The other possibility is Revere Signature pans, which are stainless with a laminated exterior. It is hard to make bowed bottoms flat since they bow when they expand.

I flatten copper pans by using an old bowling ball as an anvil, and apply pressure from above by any means needed. But copper is much softer than stainless. It's worth a try with stainless.

 

[Caslon]

If your pans are Revere with copper bottoms, they are not copper

Then how come 40+ years using Brasso hasn't revealed that they are anything else but copper? Wouldn't I have gotten down to beyond a cheap copper coating by now? 40 years? Lol, my Revere Ware copper bottoms have been so Brasso'd that the Revere Ware mark has gone away. Still copper looking tho.

So...I don't have copper bottomed sauce pans?

 

[Andy M.]

Yes, you do. While the copper layer on your pan bottoms may be thin, they're still copper bottoms. Keep doing what you've been doing.

 

[tenspeed]

I've has success with old pans like yours using a piece of wood and a rubber mallet or hammer. Place the piece of wood across the bottom and hit it with the hammer. At first, the wood would rock back and forth because of the bow but when you get it flat it will not move.

I used the Andy M. method successfully on a Calphalon anodized aluminum pan. I didn't get it perfectly flat, but I didn't try all that hard to do so. I got it close enough to work for my needs.

 

[CStanford]

You can cook successfully in Revere Ware, don't worry. For some delicate sauce work in the saucepans you might need a flame tamer. For the fry pan --- just let her rip. When you change the fire under the pan you get an immediate response. Immediate response is GOOD! Slow response is bad.

They can be flattened with wood (a 2x4 on edge) and a mallet or with a planishing hammer.

To keep them flat, never run water over the hot pan.