Copper Sink Care
Ross Moran and his wife Kate live in Leeds, England (UK).
They purchased two copper pans they want to convert to sinks.
Ross wants to know about copper sink care and preparation.
Hi Tim,
You have a fantastic website - some really helpful information on here and people are reading all the way over here in the UK.
Quick question. We have purchased 2x antique Victorian copper jam pans from a sale here in the UK and as I browsed the web I found you already have an article that states you yourself once converted a very similar pan to a basin.
I've read this article and it's great - we would like to do similar, set up both pans as his and her sinks on a timber unit (not the one pictured actually).
The only question I have before we do this is in regards to the inside of this pan. You may be able to see from the image that both pans are quite worn and weathered on the inside and I wonder if you would advise that we would need to clean/scrub/treat or condition this inside surface before using it as a basin sink? Mainly thinking from a sanitation perspective as the water within will obviously be used for washing hands and faces!
Look forward to hearing back with any hints, tips or recommendations and then we will be sure to send you a picture of the finished product!
Kind Regards
Ross and Kate Moran
Ross and Kate, hello from the USA!
The clue to giving you the correct answer lies in the word "sanitation".
I would give the pans a good scrubbing to make sure there's no regular dirt or ???? in them. You don't know what was in them before you got them.
Here's the good news. Copper is a natural biocide. It does, on it's own, an amazing job of killing bacteria and germs of all sorts. This is why the hulls of some ships have copper plating to prevent barnacle growth. This is why roofs that have a copper strip at the top are free of roof algae and moss.
I would never apply any clear finish to the inside of the pans. Let them transform themselves to a natural brown or even green oxidized copper.
Your sinks will be the most germ-free ones in the UK!
Send that photo once you have them installed so I can post it here.