Copper Sinks - what you need to know!

Sadly, copper sinks get a bad rap due to the lack of good information online. If you have the time to do a great deal of research, you will find that the vast majority of copper sinks require that you dry the sink after each use. They are not kidding. If you wash your hands, you are to dry the sink. Most consumers find this out well after they have permanently installed their sink.

The Rachiele copper sinks do not require drying - at all. There are two reasons for this. 1. Their sinks are generously sloped toward the drain and the water evacuates properly. 2. There is no faux finish inside the bowl. The bowl is naturally weathered using household vinegar.

If you think about it, most older copper pennies are the same color - a deep caramel brown. Well, that is the color copper wants to be! So, Rachiele starts their sink off with a natural patina that will regenerate constantly. Many companies promise their copper sinks will do the same, but if you use common sense and look at the color of their sinks you will see it is impossible for the copper to turn to the original color. That is the most common complaint heard.

The main reason why the imports require drying after each use is that their sinks do not evacuate properly. If you let water stand in the same place, even in a Rachiele sink, for months - there will be discoloration.

There is another confusing factor regarding copper. The thickness is often touted as an important factor and the "real" indicator of a quality sink. That is far from the truth. There are two types of copper; recycled annealed copper and cold rolled copper. Cold rolled copper is about 8 times harder and stronger than annealed copper. It all has to do with heat!

Annealed copper is the product of recycling. There is nothing wrong with recycling copper. In fact, the vast majority of copper used in the world is recycled. When copper is super-heated, it changes the molecular structure of the metal and makes it soft and pliable. In the case of a copper sink, a soft material allows for easy hand-hammering, however, it also makes the sink easy to dent, bend or twist out of shape in shipping or even handling.

Cold rolled copper is made in a very different process."Ore is ground and put in flotation tanks and the resultant precipitant is about 28% copper. This material is sent to a flash smelting smelter which refines it to about 70% copper. This material then goes into a flash converting furnace and is brought to 98% purity. Anode furnaces refine it further to 99.6% purity as the copper is cast into plates or anodes. The refinery then brings these plates (anodes) into an acid solution with stainless steel plates on each side for 10 days. An electric current is applied which attract the copper to the stainless plates. The impurities, which can contain gold and silver, are left as residue on the bottom of the tank. The resultant copper is now 99% pure."

You probably are unaware that you likely have cold rolled copper in your home. Copper pipes are made of cold rolled copper. Alternately, the copper tubing used for airconditioning is annealed copper. The airconditioning installers must bend the copper around obstacles and it is nearly impossible to bend a cold rolled copper tube. Cold rolled copper sheets are very rarely used. In fact, there are only a few locations in the U.S. that manufacture it in large enough sheets to build a sink. 

So... now you have it! Probably more information than you bargained for. 

Have a great day!