British Ordnance Collectors Network
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Hammer, brass or not?
- Thread starter sksvlad
- Start date
Spaceinvader
Well-Known Member
Most likely, Brass is non-magnetic.
Looks fairly typical.
Be cautious with darker colors that may not be brass. Occasionally at flea markets/garage sales you may still come across non-sparking/non-magnetic tools made of beryllium. Generally safe, if mishandled and dirty you may get hazardous dust and particles which can cause harm if inhaled or make entry through cuts etc. In addition to their darker color most in the US I've seen are well marked with their manufacturers name, Berylco. I've got them as small as 1/4 inch sockets, and I've seen them as large as shovels, axes, and pick axes. Pretty much every hand tool in between can be found as well. In this picture I have a 1/4 inch socket set, screwdrivers, lineman's pliars, a knife, hand pick, crow bar, ball peen hammer, pipe and crescent wrenches.
These tools used to be popular with EOD and bomb techs, but the toxic concerns pushed many of them out, at least in the US. Still used in areas like off-shore oil and other applications, they can be found if you hunt. Mine stay in a locked case, relics from various EOD/bomb squad collections that have replaced theirs with more friendly materials.
Be cautious with darker colors that may not be brass. Occasionally at flea markets/garage sales you may still come across non-sparking/non-magnetic tools made of beryllium. Generally safe, if mishandled and dirty you may get hazardous dust and particles which can cause harm if inhaled or make entry through cuts etc. In addition to their darker color most in the US I've seen are well marked with their manufacturers name, Berylco. I've got them as small as 1/4 inch sockets, and I've seen them as large as shovels, axes, and pick axes. Pretty much every hand tool in between can be found as well. In this picture I have a 1/4 inch socket set, screwdrivers, lineman's pliars, a knife, hand pick, crow bar, ball peen hammer, pipe and crescent wrenches.
These tools used to be popular with EOD and bomb techs, but the toxic concerns pushed many of them out, at least in the US. Still used in areas like off-shore oil and other applications, they can be found if you hunt. Mine stay in a locked case, relics from various EOD/bomb squad collections that have replaced theirs with more friendly materials.
Whatever you do, don't try to Google an answer for this question, because 1/2 of the web results say brass is magnetic and bronze is not, and the other 1/2 of the websites say the opposite.
Thanks for pointing that out. I just bought a BerylCo chisel off Ebay for my British Bomb Disposal collection, so I guess I'll need to keep it wrapped up. Either that or put it in the glass case next to my 101st Airborne radium luminous disc that is still radioactive after all these years. :wink: