It is amazing what can be made out of copper, and perhaps even more amazing to discover that still today there exist coppersmiths, plying their trade with many of the same tools used hundreds of years ago. We think of copper today as fancy hoods over kitchen ranges or even copper roofs, particularly on old churches. The first photo above shows some very stylish copper rain gutters and downspouts. One of the designs even has a reinforcing copper pipe in the front to protect it from ladders and ice, but at the same time it can be used to circulate a warm fluid to melt off any ice trying to block the rain gutters.
We visited the shop of Copperworks Canada in Pickering, Ontario. The second photo shows soldering a joint, and the third staining the lead to match the copper.
Copper is such a malleable material that from time immemorial it has been used for decorative functionality. It has excelled over the years as a classy way to control water, and still remains the leader of its category.