Knives & Stones Magnetic knife bar WIP

I was the other day asked by a customer to make him a magnetic knife strip. So I figure that I may share the WIP here, I actually consider a magnetic knife strip a rather enjoyable small woodworking project.

-- I use rare earth magnet in 20mm diameter, 5mm thickness. These are quite strong, and the depth is around 4 to 5mm from the contacting side.



-- essentially you drill the hole using a forstner bit from the back and glue in the magnet, this is really a what a magnet knife strip about.


I started with a roughsawn rosewood blank.


a bit of hand and machine job


You end up with a ready to work piece. This is where most people should start: get your local timber supplier to sell you a ready to go blank, and cut to your preferred size.


After some drilling, I end up something like this


Glue the magnets in, I use 5min epoxy for the job.


Once glue is set, sand to 400grit+, with your choice of finish (wipe on polyurethene for better protection, or simply oil/wax for the warmth feeling). You will have your self a nice magnet knife strip!


Using keyhole hanging method probably gives the cleaner installation
Forgot to take some more pics before the strip was sent, so sorry for limited pic.

Thanks for watching

Those look nice and I could use some of these, but the shipping may make it too much. When you have the pricing figured out would you update the thread?

Uber cool. This could go very well with my new kitchen :hungry:

Bill13 said:

Those look nice and I could use some of these, but the shipping may make it too much. When you have the pricing figured out would you update the thread?

Click to expand...

stll experimenting different installation methods, once i finalize the design, may produce something

James

Looks amazing. Just wish my wife would let me have one. Next kitchen there will definitely be one in it

I'm wondering how strong the magnets are? How many grams do they hold to begin with? I havn't been abel to figure out how much 'power' they loose because of the thickness of the wood. Nice wood by the way

You just have to try different strengths until you find the right power to thickness ratio. I tried making on with magnets that were rated for a change couple of kgs each, but couldn't get it right. Though I was using a normal drill bit and not a forstner

for this particular one, i made the wood between the knife and magnet to be 3mm, and for the magnetic i was using, it holds everything. it was actually too strong for my liking. i may try 4mm next time

Very cool thread, James, thanks for posting! :cool2: