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"pharmdave"

19/01/2005 11:56 AM

Magnetic metal - where to get it...

I am planning on making a large, magnetic block knife holder. How
would I go about getting a nice piece of steel, say an 1/8 inch thick
and cut in the shape that I need, that would be magnetic so as to hold
the knives?

Any ideas?

Thx,
dave


This topic has 7 replies

md

mac davis

in reply to "pharmdave" on 19/01/2005 11:56 AM

19/01/2005 10:57 PM

On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 20:56:00 -0800, Richard Cline <[email protected]>
wrote:

>In article <[email protected]>,
> Andy Dingley <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>The commercial magnic racks I have seen do not look very satisfactory.
>If you do not cleanly grab the one knife you want you run the risk of
>dislodging three or four at once. I don't want my hand in the midst of
>all those falling knives.
>
>I believe one could do a decent job with rare earth magnets but one
>needs a good demonstration model before building a finished product.
>
>The old method of slots works very well. I have mounted a set of
>horizontal slots just under the cupboard so the knives do not take any
>counter space. They are firmly supported and easy to grab.
>
>Dick
>
and can be even better with a few RE magnets... gotta love those lil
suckers!



mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Uu

"Upscale"

in reply to "pharmdave" on 19/01/2005 11:56 AM

19/01/2005 4:32 PM

"Andy Dingley" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> gives you clamping that's too strong when close up and falls off
> immediately with distance. They're good clamps like that,but nasty for
> storage - they "snatch" when you get close..

<grin> In other words, don't hold your knives by the blade when you're
placing them against your knife rack.

Uu

"Upscale"

in reply to "pharmdave" on 19/01/2005 11:56 AM

19/01/2005 3:09 PM

"pharmdave" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> I am planning on making a large, magnetic block knife holder. How
> would I go about getting a nice piece of steel, say an 1/8 inch thick
> and cut in the shape that I need, that would be magnetic so as to hold
> the knives?
>
> Any ideas?

Yeah, save some effort and just use some rare earth magnets. Drill some
holes most of the way through in the back of your wood, glue a rare earth
magnet in each hole, place your knives in front.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=32065&cat=1,42363,42348&ap=1

RC

Richard Cline

in reply to "pharmdave" on 19/01/2005 11:56 AM

19/01/2005 8:56 PM

In article <[email protected]>,
Andy Dingley <[email protected]> wrote:

The commercial magnic racks I have seen do not look very satisfactory.
If you do not cleanly grab the one knife you want you run the risk of
dislodging three or four at once. I don't want my hand in the midst of
all those falling knives.

I believe one could do a decent job with rare earth magnets but one
needs a good demonstration model before building a finished product.

The old method of slots works very well. I have mounted a set of
horizontal slots just under the cupboard so the knives do not take any
counter space. They are firmly supported and easy to grab.

Dick

> On 19 Jan 2005 11:56:02 -0800, "pharmdave" <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >I am planning on making a large, magnetic block knife holder.
>
> Easiest thing is to buy a cheap, but ugly, magnetic knife rack and
> re-use the innards.
>
> The usual design is two steel strips, edge on to the knives, and
> either a number of small magnets, or a magnetic strip between them.
>
> Good magnetic racks have "pole pieces", some magnetic but unmagnetised
> iron that "connects" both poles of the magnet to the knife, and has
> them spaced a short distance apart. If you use a powerful rare-earth
> magnet in a drilled hole, you only expose one pole of the magnet. This
> gives you clamping that's too strong when close up and falls off
> immediately with distance. They're good clamps like that,but nasty for
> storage - they "snatch" when you get close..

AD

Andy Dingley

in reply to "pharmdave" on 19/01/2005 11:56 AM

19/01/2005 8:55 PM

On 19 Jan 2005 11:56:02 -0800, "pharmdave" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>I am planning on making a large, magnetic block knife holder.

Easiest thing is to buy a cheap, but ugly, magnetic knife rack and
re-use the innards.

The usual design is two steel strips, edge on to the knives, and
either a number of small magnets, or a magnetic strip between them.

Good magnetic racks have "pole pieces", some magnetic but unmagnetised
iron that "connects" both poles of the magnet to the knife, and has
them spaced a short distance apart. If you use a powerful rare-earth
magnet in a drilled hole, you only expose one pole of the magnet. This
gives you clamping that's too strong when close up and falls off
immediately with distance. They're good clamps like that,but nasty for
storage - they "snatch" when you get close..

kk

"ks"

in reply to "pharmdave" on 19/01/2005 11:56 AM

19/01/2005 8:08 PM

Perhaps rare earth magnets stratecially placed behind your piece of steel?

"pharmdave" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I am planning on making a large, magnetic block knife holder. How
> would I go about getting a nice piece of steel, say an 1/8 inch thick
> and cut in the shape that I need, that would be magnetic so as to hold
> the knives?
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Thx,
> dave
>

Gw

Guess who

in reply to "pharmdave" on 19/01/2005 11:56 AM

19/01/2005 4:53 PM

On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 15:09:40 -0500, "Upscale" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>"pharmdave" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> I am planning on making a large, magnetic block knife holder. How
>> would I go about getting a nice piece of steel, say an 1/8 inch thick
>> and cut in the shape that I need, that would be magnetic so as to hold
>> the knives?
>>
>> Any ideas?
>
>Yeah, save some effort and just use some rare earth magnets. Drill some
>holes most of the way through in the back of your wood, glue a rare earth
>magnet in each hole, place your knives in front.

I'd go along with the rare earth magnets. But if he still wants the
appearance, he should rout out for the steel, then rout holes behind
that [from the front] for the magnets. The glued-in steel [or drill
and screw] will hold the knives anywhere along the length.


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