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- Jun 13, 2013
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ive had some 1/8” wenge lying around, aching to do something with it. Decided to try another knife rack, a small one, to fit on the side of my kitchen cabinet over the sink.
Magnets: n52 neodymium rare earth, 1/2” x 1/8” thick from eBay. About $.40 each. I routed 1/2” holes about 1/16” down into the wenge and secured with JB weld. Putting a big hunk of steel under it helped the magnets stay in place with the epoxy dried. It could be a bit maddening having them jump around, trust me. This configuration was ok but resulted in some of the knives rotating if they leaned towards the next column.
So I added a top row of magnets and then a bottom row (latter not pictured).
Then I added some sheet steel I had on hand to increase the magnetism.
I bought some maple stock from Home Depot and routed the inside since the magnets and steel stood proud.
Then I glued the wenge to the maple, trimmed up some sins, sanded, and routed the edges. Oiled and board buttered and it’s as good if not better than my other knife racks. No rotating of the knives, they snap in place strongly, and overall it didn’t cost much! I just need to drill some mounting screw holes. I’ve got another one in the works that I’m going to gift to a coworker who likes to cook (just a home cook here).
Hope this is helpful to anyone looking to make one. The steel sheets might be the only thing hard to find. I bought them on eBay a long time ago as a single sheet to use on homemade knife strop blocks with interchangeable strop pads, had a ton extra, and had a buddy with a sheet metal shop cut them to the sizes I wanted. This was fun.
Magnets: n52 neodymium rare earth, 1/2” x 1/8” thick from eBay. About $.40 each. I routed 1/2” holes about 1/16” down into the wenge and secured with JB weld. Putting a big hunk of steel under it helped the magnets stay in place with the epoxy dried. It could be a bit maddening having them jump around, trust me. This configuration was ok but resulted in some of the knives rotating if they leaned towards the next column.
So I added a top row of magnets and then a bottom row (latter not pictured).
Then I added some sheet steel I had on hand to increase the magnetism.
I bought some maple stock from Home Depot and routed the inside since the magnets and steel stood proud.
Then I glued the wenge to the maple, trimmed up some sins, sanded, and routed the edges. Oiled and board buttered and it’s as good if not better than my other knife racks. No rotating of the knives, they snap in place strongly, and overall it didn’t cost much! I just need to drill some mounting screw holes. I’ve got another one in the works that I’m going to gift to a coworker who likes to cook (just a home cook here).
Hope this is helpful to anyone looking to make one. The steel sheets might be the only thing hard to find. I bought them on eBay a long time ago as a single sheet to use on homemade knife strop blocks with interchangeable strop pads, had a ton extra, and had a buddy with a sheet metal shop cut them to the sizes I wanted. This was fun.
