From: WVE~ol.com Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 16:50:29 EDT Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Re:=20Reed=20design,=20was=20Chromatic=20Rattle=20?= =?ISO-8859-1?Q?&=20H=20ohner=B4s=20? In a message dated 8/27/99 9:20:20 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 27385~clectus.net writes:
> Not to mention the fact that beryllium dust in even small quantities is. >deadly poison and can lead to lung diseases with even a single >exposure. I wouldn't want to tune a beryllium copper alloy reed. The >catch is the disease can lag the exposure by decades. fjm
Hohner has produced harps with BeCu reeds. It seems to me that there is a tremendous difference between the hazards encountered in a shop machining pure or almost pure Be and tuning a harp having reeds with less than 2% Be content. One of the BeCu applications mentioned in my materials textbook is "surgical and dental instruments"...hardly a place to use toxic materials.
My ME handbook says " The extreme toxicity of Be powder necessitates special precautions in all operations." No cautions are given about working BeCu.
Do you have specific information on the toxicity of the BeCu alloy, or are you extrapolating the warnings about Be powder?
