cadmium? who. when and how can you tell?

I've been going through some of the old threads on how to clean up old tools and several mention that you should not wheel a cadmium plated tool. But I couldn't find anything on how to tell if a tool was cadmium plated, or citing brands that used cadmium.

would the tools be marked for cadmium? or particular manufacturers? color difference?

I've gotten heavy metal fever once or twice from zinc and it's an unpleasant experience for a day or so. No sense inviting trouble with cadmium if I can avoid it.

Never seen a cadmium plated tool that I can recall, only hardware. And all cadmium plating I recall is a gold color.

I'm no expert, but the cadium plated tools I have look somewhat like a dull chrome and I believe it was used through the 40's. If I'm not mistaken, plomb used cadnium and the early snap-on as well. If you are not sure, don't wire wheel them, use evaporust.

Oh no, I just opend a can of worms!!

Anything that dates to 1945 and earlier could have Cadmium plating. It was mostly found on Plomb tools from roughly 1930 till 1945. It looks like aluminum. Its very dull gray. Cadmium used on auto parts is coloured gold. Tool Cadmium is silver. BOTH can lead to kidney and lung problems and it is NOT reversible. Exactly how much exposure you must have to have problems is unknown.

Your best bet is to never wire wheel a tool that you suspect is Cadmium coated. If you know it is, or was, chrome or nickle plated, then you should be okay. (I would never use a wheel!) Brass wheels are best, but note that most "brass" wheels you see in stores are brass COATED steel. Using a brass hand brush, LIGHLY on Cadmium shouldn't be a big deal. It is doubtful you will remove it by hand.

If in doubt, post up a picture and someone will be able to tell you if it is a Cadmium era tool. I recently found out the Never Dull will shine up Cadmium. Almost to a dull chrome shine! I'm not sure how long the gloss will last. Mine still look shiny after a week or so.

A lot of the cleaning depends on what you are trying to clean off. If its light rust, yes, I suggest you use EOR. Heavy rust, Brass hand brush then EOR. Grease, use a good brake cleaner or parts washing cleaner. Cosmoline, use mineral spirits. HINT: If the whole tool is rusted it does NOT have Cadmium on it. It may have at one time, but not anymore! Chrome and Nickle..... Brush it.

T56 has good answers and is our resident expert.

Note that cad was not just a Plomb tool thing, it shows up on Snap-on and many other brands, too. It was a wartime expediency, due to the shortage of chromium, and since Plomb was the dominant tool at the time, cad is always associated with Plomb. But many wartime tools were cad plated, regardless of the mfgr.

Cad plate is often described as a "powdery dull grey" finish, often with pock-marks of raw metal showing through where the cadmium has failed over the years. However, that's for old, unmolested cad. It can be shined up so it looks rather chrome-like (have not tried T56's method above). NOS cadmium looks a little like silver spray paint to me.

If you take a hand brush to cad, keep it wet (mineral spirits, etc). It's not toxic to touch it. It's toxic to breathe it. So just keep it from getting airborne.

FWIW, I now use a paper N95 respirator/dust mask for even my "safe" buffing and brushing. No need to breathe any metal that comes off the buffer/wire wheel. I picked up this habit after reading several custom knife makers who stress using a respirator for any buffing operation, much less grinding.

fatfillup said:

I'm no expert, but the cadium plated tools I have look somewhat like a dull chrome and I believe it was used through the 40's. If I'm not mistaken, plomb used cadnium and the early snap-on as well. If you are not sure, don't wire wheel them, use evaporust.

Oh no, I just opend a can of worms!!

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No you didn't, we all agree, no wire wheeling cad plate.

Since when did I become an expert!

FWIW, Not all war time tools were Cad plated. Wright for example were Black Oxide as were VlChek and some Snap On. IIRC Plomb invented Cadmium plating as it pertained to tools. I know Armstrong, Williams and Billings also used it during the war production years. Many of the Billings tools from that era have a striking resemblance to Plomb tools.

The plating served two purposes. First was the need for nickle and other metals for other war time production needs. ("War Time" production actually started ramping up in late 1938.) The second reason was that it was a "Highly visible yet non-reflective rust inhibiting coating." This is something the military deemed necessary for use in the field.

Anyway, be safe when dealing with it. I try not to use any kind of brush on Cadmium. It my preference. A lot of my Cad tools have long since either lost the cadmium from use or some one else has exposed themselves to the dangers of removing it.

One other note, it will chip off on some tools if you drop them. I found out the hard way!

Here is a pic of one on my cadmiums. The photo really does not show the dull grey color that well. Ironically this wrench survived my muratic acid test (I ruined a few wrenches testing out muratic acid, and don't recommend it. Even after I neutralized the wrenches, they all rusted up...But that is another thread.)



-BWP

Weren't some of the Wright Field wrenches plated with cadmium?

Coach

Elroy said:

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The above link shows a Cadmium plated BB before and after clean up. As pointed out above, Cadmium is very toxic and care needs to be exercised to avoid ingestion.

It is a very effective plating for corrosion control on ferrous items. The toxicidity of this metal can not be over emphasized. That is the main reason for its demise. At one point in time fastener were available cadmium plated as well.