How to tell tungsten from brass beads

[vicrider 0]

Mike, when I went to ebay for a small, accurate scale, there were a ton of them in there with everything but a list of drug weights to go with them. I bought one and it will accurately measure individual beads in grains. Easier to read in grains versus fractions of grams. I also have found the tungsten quite attracted to a strong magnet and none of my brass beads react to magnet EXCEPT my Allen painted heads. I'm not sure if other beads are from Allen or not but I do know most of my painted ones are.

[mikechell 0]

Magnetic metal dyes in the paint, on those from Allen ... maybe?

I know neodymium magnets can do, and detect, neat things.

Let one slide down an aluminum sheet ... and it makes the aluminum magnetic while it's sliding. (mutual induction at work)

[Losthwy 0]

Reloading scale.

Yup.

[SilverCreek 0]

If you have a strong enough magnet, Tungsten will be weakly attracted to it. Brass is NOT magnetic at all. So, you can use a very strong neodymium magnet and easily separate them.

 

+1

 

Try a magnet. Usually tungsten beads will be magnetic. Tungsten melts at over 6000 degrees so the beads are unlikey to be cast from solid tungsten.