Brass saw plate

[WSS]

I will post a picture later. I found a 26" 8pt. Hand saw that has a plate made of brass. It is stamped " AMPCO 8-1" and "ALER" on the line below. It has a small triangle stamped left of "ALER". Judging from the tote and screws I'd guess it to be made in the 80's. Any ideas what a brass handsaw would be used for - decoration or an actual purpose?

William

[JustinTyson]

Salt saw?

[RonB1957]

Google suggest AMPCO 8 to be a Bronze. http://www.ampcometal.com/products/alumi...ampco-8-2/ with numerous uses, but not saws, these days. Great corrosion resistance so salt saw as suggested.
Pictures maybe?

[Dave Diaman]

I've used hand saws that were beryllium but it looked just like brass or bronz. We used them for cutting explosives. I can't remember who the maker was but we had an entire tool set made of the same metal.

[Timberwolf]

Yep...No-Spark saw....

[castguy2003]

Ampco Metals used to be in Milwaukee, Made copper alloy tools for explosive areas. Non sparking was the key feature.

[JustinTyson]

Dave Diaman said:

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I've used hand saws that were beryllium but it looked just like brass or bronz. We used them for cutting explosives. I can't remember who the maker was but we had an entire tool set made of the same metal.

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Beryllium copper, maybe? Pure beryllium is brittle and quite reactive.

[Dave Diaman]

JustinTyson said:

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[blockquote]Dave Diaman said:

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I've used hand saws that were beryllium but it looked just like brass or bronz. We used them for cutting explosives. I can't remember who the maker was but we had an entire tool set made of the same metal.

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Beryllium copper, maybe? Pure beryllium is brittle and quite reactive.

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[/blockquote]

I'm sure that is what it was. It's nomenclature was beryllium tool set but I'm sure it was some type of alloy. We had shoves, wrenches and everything else you can imagine made out of the stuff. We used it because as everyone pointed out it is non sparking and not magnetic. Some of the stuff we worked on had magnetic triggers in the fuzing so we would basically have to strip down to our skivies and head down with our non mag tools. As I'm sure you can imaging that was quite the site

[AHill]

Dave Diaman said:

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[blockquote]JustinTyson said:

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[blockquote]Dave Diaman said:

---

I've used hand saws that were beryllium but it looked just like brass or bronz. We used them for cutting explosives. I can't remember who the maker was but we had an entire tool set made of the same metal.

---

Beryllium copper, maybe? Pure beryllium is brittle and quite reactive.

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[/blockquote]

I'm sure that is what it was. It's nomenclature was beryllium tool set but I'm sure it was some type of alloy. We had shoves, wrenches and everything else you can imagine made out of the stuff. We used it because as everyone pointed out it is non sparking and not magnetic. Some of the stuff we worked on had magnetic triggers in the fuzing so we would basically have to strip down to our skivies and head down with our non mag tools. As I'm sure you can imaging that was quite the site

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[/blockquote]

Dave, don'tcha like your job now a whole lot better than back in your EOD days? We had similar tools in the rocket manufacturing world to remove and repair solid rocket propellant cracks and voids.

[JustinTyson]

Quite the visual, bunch of guys running around with explosives in their skivvies. Sounds like something out of a movie