Last batch of 180 • In 4 active carts right now • Only 73 left
Emory's Copper Rain Chain
Emory's Copper Rain Chain
Ships within 1–2 business days
90-day money-back guarantee
Free US shipping with tracking
Couldn't load pickup availability
Emory's Copper Rain Chain
Seven Copper Cups, Tuned by Hand in a Barn in Silverton, Oregon
Emory Lindahl, 71. He hung gutters and downspouts across the Willamette Valley for fifty years. In 2016 he took the downspout off his own house, hammered his wife seven copper tulip cups and found out the rain could sound like a little creek. These are the last chains he will ever tune.
“Emory, your gutter sounds like a creek.”
Ione Lindahl · at the kitchen window, April 2016Everything That Arrives at Your Door
1 Copper Rain Chain
47 inches (120 cm) long, seven hand-tuned copper tulip cups, each hung on twin side chains.
1 Hanging Hook
Already on the top link. Hooks into a gutter outlet, a porch beam or a pergola — no tools for most spots.
90-Day Returns
If it isn’t right on your porch, send it back within 90 days for a full refund. One email does it.
Six Things a Hardware-Store Rain Chain Doesn’t Have
Seven Cups, Checked on a Tuner
Every cup is hammered and checked on a tuner, so the faint ring you hear now and then is soft and pleasant. Most of the time you hear a gentle creek running down the chain.
Seven Different Wall Thicknesses
Each cup is planished to its own wall thickness until it rings clean when a drop lands. No two cups on a chain are the same.
Solid Copper
Copper cups with a brushed antique-bronze finish. Copper doesn’t rust out in wet weather the way coated steel does.
Twin-Chain Hangers
Each cup hangs from two side chains in a V, so it stays level, catches the water dead center and doesn’t twist and spill in the wind.
A Whisper Instead of a Drum
In a downpour the cups fill and the water runs cup to cup in clean ribbons, without the hollow drumming of a metal downspout.
A Drink for Birds and Bees
Let the bottom cup run into a pot of river pebbles. The stones stay wet for days — chickadees bathe there, bees land and drink.
An Ordinary Downspout vs. Emory’s Rain Chain
| Downspout | Emory’s Chain | |
|---|---|---|
| Sound | Hollow drumming and gurgling, loudest at night | A soft creek-like trickle, now and then a quiet plink |
| Look | A bent aluminum pipe on the corner of the house | Seven copper tulips you can watch the rain walk down |
| Water on your beds | One hard jet that digs a trench | Slowed cup by cup, settles into pebbles or a barrel |
| Birds and bees | Nothing for them | A wet pebble pot they visit for days after rain |
| Hanging it | Brackets, screws, elbows, a ladder | Unhook the downspout, hook on the chain |
Made by Hand in Silverton, Oregon
Every cup on this chain started as a flat copper offcut on Emory’s bench. He shapes the four petals over a steel stake, then takes the wall down a few thousandths of an inch at a time with a small planishing hammer, reading the thickness through his fingertips and checking each cup on a tuner and against his father’s old chrome pitch pipe. Every chain takes him about twelve hours at the bench.
His hands have gone numb in the cold after fifty-two years of tin snips and wet roofs, and he can’t feel the copper the way tuning demands. The 180 chains in this batch are the last he tuned himself. He is letting them go for about what the copper and the postage cost him, because he would rather hear they’re hanging where it rains than sitting in a warehouse.
— EmoryThree Steps, About Five Minutes
- Pick the spot. A gutter outlet where you’d normally have a downspout, or the edge of a porch beam, eave or pergola where rain runs off.
- Hook it on. Hang the top hook from the outlet or a screw hook in the beam. The chain hangs straight on its own.
- Give it somewhere to land. A planter, a rain barrel or a wide pot of river pebbles under the last cup. In windy spots, tie the last link to a stake.
“A downspout puts a whole roof’s worth of water into one hole in the ground. A chain lets it come down slowly and soak in. And a pot of wet stones underneath is one of the best little water stations you can give birds and bees — shallow, safe, with somewhere to land.”
Dale Whitcomb · Master Gardener, Marion County, OregonWho It’s For
Five Things You Can Count On
- Seven hand-tuned copper cups on twin side chains
- Ships within 1–2 business days
- Hook included, ready to hang
- Copper that won’t rust out in the weather
- 90-day money-back guarantee
90-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Hang it, wait for the first proper rain and listen. If it isn’t what you hoped for, send it back within 90 days for a full refund. No forms, no questions — one email to our support team sorts it out.
Living With It Outside
The chain is made to stay out all year. Copper weathers slowly and gains character over time; if you prefer the original finish, wipe it with a soft dry cloth now and then. If leaves collect in the top cup, tip them out once a year.
In a spot with strong wind, anchor the last link to a stake or the handle of a rain barrel. In a hard freeze, lift the chain off its hook for a few weeks so ice can’t weigh on your gutter. If it barely rains where you live, a slow watering can or a garden hose held over the top cup gets the chain trickling just the same.
Product Specifications
| Length | 47 in (120 cm) including hook |
| Cups | 7 tulip cups, approx. 2.6 in (6.5 cm) across |
| Cup material | Copper, brushed antique-bronze finish |
| Chain | Dark-finish figure-eight links, twin side chains per cup |
| Hanging | Top hook included — gutter outlet, beam, eave or pergola |
| Tuning | Every cup checked on a tuner |
| Made by | Emory Lindahl, Silverton, Oregon |
| Shipping | Ships within 1–2 business days |
| Returns | 90 days, full refund |
The Final Series
The Final Series
Some things are made by one pair of hands, for decades, and then never again.
The Final Series is the last work of craftspeople who are putting down their tools. No factory, no successor, no second batch.
Just the final pieces from their workshops, each one shaped by a lifetime of getting it right.
When they're gone, they're gone.
Free US Shipping
Free US Shipping
Free shipping across the United States
- Ships within 1–2 business days, with tracking
- Every chain is packed by hand in Emory’s shop in Silverton, Oregon
- Length: 47″ (120 cm), 7 copper tulip cups, approx. 2.6″ (6.5 cm) across, hanging hook included
- Made to live outside all year
- 90-day money-back guarantee — just email info@backroad-goods.com
Frequently Asked Questions
Got a question? Here’s how to reach us.
Got a question? Here’s how to reach us.
Email us anytime at info@backroad-goods.com. We answer Monday–Friday 9am–5pm and Saturday 10am–3pm (ET) – whether it’s about your order, a gift, or just to say hello to Emory.
Can I return it if it’s not for me?
Can I return it if it’s not for me?
Of course. 90-day money-back guarantee. Hang it, wait for the first good rain and listen – and if it simply isn’t right for you, email info@backroad-goods.com within 90 days for a full refund. No questions asked.