Selecting Material for Your Rain Chain

Although various materials are used to make rain chains, the metal material is most suitable when considering luxury and durability if you can allocate the budget. We use durable metal types such as copper or stainless steel that does not deteriorate even when placed outdoors and exposed to rainwater.

Each material has its own characteristics. Copper has been used for roofs and rain gutters for a long time, and its major feature is that it ages and changes over time. You may find roofs made with copper plating on temples and traditional Japanese inns, and you will sometimes see a distinctive roof that has evolved to a wonderful patina with deep colors over the years.

This color is called patina and is formed from oxidation of copper, which acts as a protective film and has the effect of preventing internal corrosion.

Stainless steel is a familiar material to most of us from everyday items such as forks and spoons, which is an alloy containing iron, chromium, and nickel. You may think that if iron is mixed, it will rust, but by forming an alloy, a strong protective film called a passive film is formed to prevent rust generation. Since the characteristics change when the composition is altered, various types of stainless steel have been developed, such as SUS304, 303 and 403, each having its own characteristics although these alloy are bundled under a single name as stainless steel.

At SEO Inc., we mainly manufacture rain chains using stainless steel (SUS304) and copper.

*The picture in TOP section is our “Ta-ke” rain chain manufactured with SUS304.