HANK METZ
04-11-2014, 7:00 PM
287001 The wife and I like to cruise around town on Friday mornings, we stop at yard sales and thrift stores- it’s inexpensive entertainment and always holds forth the possibility of a real find for cheap. I always pack a magnet with me as a simple means to deduce the type of metals in cabinet hardware, in this case solid brass knobs. Ferrous metals finished with a brass plating will grab the magnet, and non- ferrous won’t. That’s just the first evaluation however, next comes a simple heft test, even pot metals can act like non- ferrous but their density is much less, so if it feels right, I go for it. Above are two examples of a good score: on the left, $.25 for the lot, 1-1/4” x ¾” eggs, on the right $2.00 for the bunch, 1-1/4” diameter, and the pencil points to one of my many magnets. I don’t have a project for them yet, but after a little polishing on my buffer they go on the shelf, waiting for that special job.