Berlin’s Wall Is Being Cut Away--Chip by Chip : Europe: A few Germans are selling small chunks of the wall as souvenirs.

All day Sunday, the cold, clear air along the Berlin Wall rang with the clang of hammer on chisel and the crunch of rock against concrete.

Little by little, the Berlin Wall, for 28 years a symbol of Europe’s division, is being whittled away.

As a million or more East Germans headed for the shopping districts of West Berlin over the weekend, thousands of others promenaded along the graffiti-decorated western face of the wall--and watched hundreds, perhaps thousands taking their turn at chipping away at that symbol.

For while the Berlin Wall has been dramatically outdated by free passage through new checkpoints, it still stands as the detested barrier between East and West.

A few West Berliners were selling small chunks of the wall as souvenirs; others wanted to knock a hole in it to look through; and some said they wished to be part of history by helping the wall crumble.

“Man, I just want to help a little to remove the wall,” said Dan Epstein, 23, of Berkeley, Calif., a student in London.

“This is a pretty exciting thing for the world,” he said. “I think a lot of people are here swinging away just to make a statement about the wall.”

Epstein carried a large chisel. His friend, Aaron Singer, 22, of Colorado Springs, wielded the hammer. They came to Berlin by train last Monday and have been watching events at the wall ever since.

“Nov. 9 was my birthday,” said Singer. “I heard the wall was opened and decided to come over. This is the biggest historical event in Berlin since World War II.”

“The wall is not easy to chip away,” added Epstein. “It has got to be the sturdiest piece of construction in all of East Germany.”

The two Americans said they had been watching the various techniques used for breaching the wall. Many of the amateur demolition workers have hammers and chisels but some simply pick up rocks to flail away at the structure.

“Most people pick a particular spot and keep plugging away at it,” said Singer. “We have a pretty good place but it’s not easy.”

Singer and Epstein were working at a stretch of the wall that runs south and then east from the Brandenburg Gate to Checkpoint Charlie. It is fashioned of concrete with reinforced steel rods, 12 to 15 feet high and formed of one-meter-wide panels.

So for about every three feet along the wall there are joints sealed with mortar, and it is at these connection points that the hammers and chisels are levered to best advantage. Right now there are hundreds of small openings bored through the wall but no major breach--except those made by the East Germans for the new border-crossing posts.

Other wall-breakers concentrate on the circular rim of the wall, installed to prevent escapees from gaining a firm hold on the top of the barrier.

The West Berlin police seem to take a casual attitude toward most of the amateurs trying to knock through the west side of the wall, but they quickly turn away anyone with professional equipment like power drills.

As evening approached, however, West German police at some locations began confiscating hammers and other tools being used to chip at the barrier. Someone asked a policeman if he was embarrassed about taking away wall-breaching implements, and he replied, “Yes, but this is East German property.”

Sunday strollers stopped to watch energetic wall-breachers, many of whom gave away the small pieces or sold chunks for a mark or two.

From Hamburg came reports of a much more ambitious commercial scheme. Ten tons of freight, described in official documents as “Pieces of the Berlin Wall,” were put on an American Airlines flight for Chicago via New York, according to United Press International. UPI said reporters who saw inside the 19 rectangular, plain wooden cases strung with nylon netting said they contained brownish-black pieces of stone covered with sand and plant roots. The shipment was brought to Hamburg airport Saturday on a truck, and sources there told UPI that the shipper was a “private citizen in West Berlin.” American Airlines said it knew nothing about shipper or consignee.

Here in Berlin, the most prized bits of wall are those surface pieces with graffiti paint, rather than simply a colorless lump of interior concrete.

“Down with the wall!” called out one youth in English as he slammed a large hammer against the concrete.

Nearby, a lively business has sprung up with vendors selling gluehwein-- spiced, mulled red wine.

For those peeking through the holes in the wall, there is not much to see--just the barren cleared ground and a few gray barracks-style buildings in East Berlin.

In the distance is the second, inner wall, where East German armed guards still patrol. For now, that is an unattainable target for the amateur demolitionists of West Berlin.