[Broken] metal vessels: what is the minimum size of [for them to be susceptible to impurity]? A bucket - large enough to draw water with it. A kettle - large enough so that water can be heated in it. A boiler - large enough to hold selaim [coins]. A cauldron - large enough to hold jugs. Jugs - large enough to hold perutot [small coins]. Wine-measures - [large enough to hold] wine, and oil-measures - [large enough to hold] oil. Rabbi Eliezer says: for all these, large enough to hold perutot. Rabbi Akiva says: a vessel that lacks trimming its edges is susceptible to impurity, but one that lacks polishing is pure.

A staff that he attached to its end a pin like an adze is susceptible to impurity. If he studded it with nails it is susceptible to impurity. Rabbi Shimon says: [it is not subject] until he makes three rows. In all cases if he put them in as ornamentation the staff is pure. If he made a tube on its end, and so also in the case of a door, it is pure. If it was once an independent vessel and then it was fixed to the staff, it remains susceptible to impurity. When does it become pure? Beit Shammai says: when it is damaged; Bet Hillel says: when it is joined on.

A builder's staff and a carpenter's axe are susceptible to impurity. Tent-pegs and surveyors’ pegs are susceptible to impurity. A surveyor's chain is susceptible to impurity. One used for wood is clean. The chain of a big bucket [is susceptible to impurity to a length of] four tefachim [handbreadths], and that of a small one [to a length of] ten tefachim. A blacksmith's stand is susceptible to impurity. A saw whose teeth he made in a hole susceptible to impurity. If he made them from below upwards it is pure. All covers are pure except that of a boiler.

The parts of a wagon that are susceptible to impurity: the metal yoke, the cross-bar, the side-pieces that hold the straps, the iron bar under the necks of the cattle, the pole-pin, the neck-chain, the trays, the clapper, the hook, and any nail that holds any of its parts together.

The parts of a wagon not subject to impurity: the yoke that is plated [with metal], side-pieces made for ornamentation, tubes that make noise, the lead at the side of the necks of the cattle, the rim of the wheel, the plates and mountings, and all other nails, all of these are pure. Metal shoes for cattle are susceptible to impurity but those made of cork are pure. A sword: when does it become susceptible to impurity? When it has been polished. And a knife? When it has been sharpened.

A metal basket-cover which he made into a mirror: Rabbi Yehudah rules that it is pure, but the Sages rule that it is susceptible to impurity. A broken mirror: if it does not reflect the greater part of the face, it is pure.

Metal vessels become impure and are purified even when broken: the words of Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Yehoshua says: they can be made pure only when they are whole. How so? If he sprinkled upon them [the purifying water made with ashes of the red heifer] and on the same day they were broken, and then they were recast, and he sprinkled upon them again on the same day, they are pure, the words of Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Yehoshua says: there can be no effective sprinkling except on the third and the seventh day.

A knee-shaped key that was broken off at the knee is pure. Rabbi Yehudah declares it impure because he can open with it from within. A gamma-shaped [key] that was broken off at its gamma (shorter) arm is pure. If it had the teeth and the gaps it remains impure. If the teeth were removed it is still impure on account of the gaps; if the gaps were blocked up it is impure on account of the teeth. If the teeth were removed and the gaps were blocked up, or if they were merged into one another, it is pure. A mustard-strainer in which three holes opened up in its bottom, and they merged into one another, is pure. And a metal mill-funnel is impure.