Magnetic or not...

simoncpage

I’m looking at a key that looks an old and ornate key but is described as not magnetic? Does this mean it is likely a cheap metal replica or a silver type key or are any old key not very magnetic?

thanks

Pschiffe

simoncpage wrote
I’m looking at a key that looks an old and ornate key but is described as not magnetic? Does this mean it is likely a cheap metal replica or a silver type key or are any old key not very magnetic?
thanks

I don’t know if this answers your question but per Google:
Materials that can be magnetized, which are also the ones that are strongly attracted to a magnet, are called ferromagnetic (or ferrimagnetic). These include the elements iron, nickel and cobalt.

Pete Schifferli

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simoncpage

Pschiffe wrote
I don’t know if this answers your question but per Google:
Materials that can be magnetized, which are also the ones that are strongly attracted to a magnet, are called ferromagnetic (or ferrimagnetic). These include the elements iron, nickel and cobalt.

Pete Schifferli

Thanks Pete I had already seen that (I should have said) and tested some of my other keys all of which are either iron or steel and are magnetic. My question really was are older keys likely to be less magnetic or in saying that this key isn’t steel or iron it is most probably a replica - albeit not sure what metal it would be in? (Silver?)

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Huw Eastwood

simoncpage wrote
I’m looking at a key that looks an old and ornate key but is described as not magnetic? Does this mean it is likely a cheap metal replica or a silver type key or are any old key not very magnetic?

thanks

There’s a lot of ornate furniture keys that are plated die-cast (zinc-based alloys), often with an aged finish with patina, which can make them look older than they are.
Plated solid brass is another possibility, nickel-silver for some ornate cylinder and flat keys, silver plated die-cast for cheaper large volume presentation keys, silver plated cast solid brass common for better quality presentation keys, with .925 solid silver used for some real quality examples. At the top end there are silver-gilt examples and of course Bramah’s incredible solid gold examples…….in short there are many possibilities that won’t be magnetic but we are guessing without a photo or even a description of the key in question.

Here’s how to upload photos to your posts;
https://www.antique-locks.com/showthread.php/3328-How-to-upload-images-to-your-posts

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