Hey there people! I hope all of you are doing well!

I recently acquired an original, 1943 dated wrist taylor wrist compass, with the very elusive AF0210 strap, and would love to keep it. However me and my partner have become increasingly worried about the radiation, emissions and dangers it can bring to our household, we don't want to get any side effects from owning this item.

Do you guys own any of these?
What should I be worried about?

I know this radiation issue tends to be a common issue with compasses of the era, how do you guys deal with it? 
How do you guys safely store them? Any recommendations?


Thanks in advance people, and have a great day! 
 

I would only be concerned if you or a family member were in contact with the compass for prolonged periods of time or if the luminous components were ingested or inhaled (in the case of dry scraped luminous paint getting in the air).  If the compass is in good condition and out of reach of children, keep and enjoy it, just maybe don’t display it by wearing it or keeping it on your nightstand when you sleep.  If you have access to a Geiger counter you can measure the amount of radiation it is giving off and compare it to the background radiation for the area where you live and any other items in your house- I suspect you will find it a pretty low emitter.  

In case there is a question, I should make clear I am not a M.D, didn’t want there to be confusion over my screen name.  My opinions are based upon my knowledge and experience as a Hazardous Materials Technician.  

10 minutes ago, Doctorofwar said:

I would only be concerned if you or a family member were in contact with the compass for prolonged periods of time or if the luminous components were ingested or inhaled (in the case of dry scraped luminous paint getting in the air).  If the compass is in good condition and out of reach of children, keep and enjoy it, just maybe don’t display it by wearing it or keeping it on your nightstand when you sleep.  If you have access to a Geiger counter you can measure the amount of radiation it is giving off and compare it to the background radiation for the area where you live and any other items in your house- I suspect you will find it a pretty low emitter.  

Thank you so much for the insight! 

The compass is generally in good shape, nothing directly leaks from it, but some of the liquid had evaporated (still works though!), seems to be the smallest cracking on the dial, but none of the radium within the compass (not the outside markers) seems to have peeled, chipped or disolved.

Think some sort of sealed display case could be effective at limiting any existing risk? Just for some peace of mind really

There are four types of radiation, your watch could be giving off up to 3 of them depending on the radioactive elements used to make it glow.  
 

Protection includes time, distance and shielding:

 

Time: radiation decays over time, so the older the object the less “hot” it becomes- this is why luminous items tend to not glow as bright over time.  The half life of the radioactive substance maybe a very long time, and could remain dangerous for more than your lifetime but time can also refer to the amount of time you are exposed to the item... so maybe don’t store it where you spend most of your time/sleep etc.  Also simply washing your hands after handling will get rid of alpha particles if you came I contact with them, limiting the time you are in contact with them.  

 

Distance: The farther you are the less radiation dose you are getting from the item. The Geiger counter could really illustrate this for you simply by seeing your readings increase the closer you got to it.  So for storage, keep it in a place where you aren’t always right next to/on top of it.  Maybe a shelf where it can be admired from a distance?  
 

Shielding: A case between you and the item can provide limited protection from some forms of radiation- almost anything will block alpha particles- the real danger with alpha is ingestion and inhalation.  It takes something more substantial to block beta particles, and nothing you’ll want to display it in will block gamma waves (unless it was in a fish tank you wouldn’t see it and enjoy it under concrete/steel/lead etc).  The shielding of the compass itself is likely blocking some of the emitted radiation from the dial which is why it is safer the better its condition.  
 

Old civil defense kits that include Geiger counters, dosimeters etc are commonly found for cheap, and although long out of calibration can be fun to play with to give you an idea of what else is a hot source around your house.  It may put you at ease (or freak you out) to find out that you compass maybe not much higher than the background radiation you are exposed to where you live.  Granite, ionizing smoke alarms, some ceramic glazes, about everything self luminous, lantern mantles, etc have some level of radioactivity, and often people come in contact with those all the time.

12 hours ago, Doctorofwar said:

There are four types of radiation, your watch could be giving off up to 3 of them depending on the radioactive elements used to make it glow.  
 

Protection includes time, distance and shielding:

 

Time: radiation decays over time, so the older the object the less “hot” it becomes- this is why luminous items tend to not glow as bright over time.  The half life of the radioactive substance maybe a very long time, and could remain dangerous for more than your lifetime but time can also refer to the amount of time you are exposed to the item... so maybe don’t store it where you spend most of your time/sleep etc.  Also simply washing your hands after handling will get rid of alpha particles if you came I contact with them, limiting the time you are in contact with them.  

 

Distance: The farther you are the less radiation dose you are getting from the item. The Geiger counter could really illustrate this for you simply by seeing your readings increase the closer you got to it.  So for storage, keep it in a place where you aren’t always right next to/on top of it.  Maybe a shelf where it can be admired from a distance?  
 

Shielding: A case between you and the item can provide limited protection from some forms of radiation- almost anything will block alpha particles- the real danger with alpha is ingestion and inhalation.  It takes something more substantial to block beta particles, and nothing you’ll want to display it in will block gamma waves (unless it was in a fish tank you wouldn’t see it and enjoy it under concrete/steel/lead etc).  The shielding of the compass itself is likely blocking some of the emitted radiation from the dial which is why it is safer the better its condition.  
 

Old civil defense kits that include Geiger counters, dosimeters etc are commonly found for cheap, and although long out of calibration can be fun to play with to give you an idea of what else is a hot source around your house.  It may put you at ease (or freak you out) to find out that you compass maybe not much higher than the background radiation you are exposed to where you live.  Granite, ionizing smoke alarms, some ceramic glazes, about everything self luminous, lantern mantles, etc have some level of radioactivity, and often people come in contact with those all the time.

Sweet! We'll probably look into some sort of airtight display case, gonna keep it on an opposite wall shelve in our room, as far as it can be from us. For now it's wrapped and locked in an ammo can and stored elsewhere.

We will also look for a counter online, hopefully we can find one for a good price!
I'm still a bit oddly disturbed by the nature of it all, kinda scary. 

A few pounds of sand on boron should do the trick. 

 

Kidding aside, unless you have dozens of these compasses stored away somewhere in your house, I wouldn't lose sleep over it. I asked a similar question about WW2 era watches around the time I saw HBO's Chernobyl (makes you think don't it?) and the general consensus is that the watches pose no significant threat to human health. To be safe I keep mine locked away as well along with 2 compasses, it would be interesting to see some hard scientific data on this matter to finally settle the concern. 

 

But what's safe? They told the women painting the dials at the time that the paint wasn't harmful, they even licked the brushes, many got sick. They said the same thing about tobacco, frankly I'm more worried about wireless tech than I am about the watches. Radiation is everywhere, it's there when you are out in the sun, the moment you switch on your light bulb, it's even there when you are watching tv. Emf devices creep me out more than the watches to be honest. 

2 minutes ago, ken88 said:

A few pounds of sand on boron should do the trick. 

 

Kidding aside, unless you have dozens of these compasses stored away somewhere in your house, I wouldn't lose sleep over it. I asked a similar question about WW2 era watches around the time I saw HBO's Chernobyl (makes you think don't it?) and the general consensus is that the watches pose no significant threat to human health. To be safe I keep mine locked away as well along with 2 compasses, it would be interesting to see some hard scientific data on this matter to finally settle the concern. 

 

But what's safe? They told the women painting the dials at the time that the paint wasn't harmful, they even licked the brushes, many got sick. They said the same thing about tobacco, frankly I'm more worried about wireless tech than I am about the watches. Radiation is everywhere, it's there when you are out in the sun, the moment you switch on your light bulb, it's even there when you are watching tv. Emf devices creep me out more than the watches to be honest. 

Totally true! 

Honestly I feel that for now, keeping them in a nicely sealed container, either for storage and/or display should do the trick, will look into nice airtight display cases or something along those lines! I don't think I'm gonna really keep a lot of them anyhow, I was mostly worried about the fact that for some glowing brain reason it was decided to put some radium outside of the compass, it being the arrow on the dial and directions!

But anyways, thanks again pal!

 

Sunlight, UV light, IR light, microwaves and radio waves are examples of non-ionizing radiation.  Comparing non-ionizing radiation to ionizing radiation (such as x-rays, alpha, beta, gamma, neutron) is comparing apples to oranges.  They are both radiation but their effects on you at the molecular level is different.