Document and Entity Information	6 Months Ended
	Jan. 31, 2013	Mar. 06, 2013 Class A nonvoting common stock [Member]	Mar. 06, 2013 Class B voting common stock [Member]
Entity Information [Line Items]
Document Type	10-Q
Amendment Flag	false
Document Period End Date	Jan. 31, 2013
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2013
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q2
Trading Symbol	BRC
Entity Registrant Name	BRADY CORP
Entity Central Index Key	0000746598
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--07-31
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		47,823,642	3,538,628