# Which magnets for knife rack



## Godslayer (Apr 26, 2018)

Making a knife rack in the shop next week/weekend. Which magnets have you guys found success in. Need to be able to hold a 500ish gram cleaver up and a Gude bread sword. :viking:

I know it's rare earth but can't decide which ones.


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## chinacats (Apr 26, 2018)

Not where I can Google right now but there have definitely been some good threads on this in the past...might be worth digging through to find one.


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## WYSkinny (Apr 26, 2018)

I got mine from a site that has a chart/table for suggested wood thickness and magnet combos. Can't remember which one. Magnetsgalore or something like that. I went for stronger magnets and thicker wood. Came out very nicely. Wouldn't have done anything differently.


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## Bensbites (Apr 26, 2018)

I buy mine from magnetsforless.com. 1/8th inch n50 x 1/2 inch round. This is for 1/16th inch of wood backing. The cleaver will be the easiest, it will have the most metal contact to the magnet face. It is the thinner convex knives that are problematic.


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## erezj (Apr 27, 2018)

I wrote quite a detailed review a while ago:
http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/showthread.php/31154-Magnetic-Knife-Rack-using-Rectangle-Magnets

unfortunately, the pics dont work any more, and the links to the site I bought are not relevant any more, still worth a read.

to make a long story short, my personal experience (which is not aligned with the normal path):
1. Use rectangular magnets (not round) this will help you avoid 90% of the challenges (pivoting, non continual magnetized and magnets jumping out during instalation)
2. Buy from Ali express or some other Chinese site, its the same magnets exactly, just much cheaper

I used: 

100*10*5mm Super Strong Magnets L100X10X5mm N50 Neodymium Rare Earth magnets

quick search I found these (just as an example):
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5pc...d31fd77&transAbTest=ae803_2&priceBeautifyAB=0


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## Mucho Bocho (Apr 27, 2018)

I will add, regardless of magnet shape (I used round), you will want two of magnets to prevent twisting. I recessed my magnets into a mahogany board, then put a veneer on top. This way you can tailor how strong the magnets pull on the knives. Take my very expensive advise, there is a sweet spot between too har or too loose a pull. You won't know what that is given:

1.) How the knife steel will respond to the magnets
2.) How much pull you require.


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## ForestryProf (Apr 27, 2018)

I've used these with very good results:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076RBS92F/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Cheers,
Ed


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## Matus (Apr 30, 2018)

I have just finished 2 magnetic holders. Since I do not have a mill or router, I used my drill press and a modified drill bit (basically flat) to drill holes down to about 2 - 2.5 mm from the front surface of the wood. I have used N42 neodymium magnets with 15 mm diameter and 8 mm thick. I have give them 20 mm spacing (so there is about 5mm gap between two magnets). I have applied two rows of the magnets. The orientation of the magnetic field is do in a following way:

+ - + - + - + - ....

- + - + - + - + ....

Of course if you can mill a long ridge than using a magnets as suggested above is going to work even better.


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## Godslayer (Apr 30, 2018)

Ended up getting 1 inch diameter rare earth magnets 1/8th inch thick 30lb pull force, putting +/- 40 of them across a 32 inch piece of walnut, waiting on the magnets now...


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## gic (Apr 30, 2018)

https://www.kjmagnetics.com/blog.asp?p=magnetic-knife-holder


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## niwaki-boy (Apr 30, 2018)

If you go with rounds they typically want to flip and turn into a mess when you lay them next to each other. To mitigate this use a piece of sheet metal on the blade side to hold each placed magnet, I use my tablsaw as the hold down. Also a 3/16~1/4 center punch helps hold the magnet into the slot until it hits the pull of the sheet metal. I set them ahead of the last magnet then slide over until it hits the last placed. A steel ruler can be used for mise en place, meaning you can set up your polarity before placing, just slide them off as you go. 

And definitely be careful with larger sizes! Getting pinched with two slamming magnets can hurt (go ahead .. ask me) and the magnets can shatter!


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## Bensbites (Apr 30, 2018)

You have some heavy duty magnets. You may want to experiment with different thickness of cardboard to get the pull right.


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## Moooza (May 1, 2018)

Might be late to the party, but I've found two lines of continuous bar magnets works best. I previously tried closely spaced round magnets but found with small petty's, it caused them to sit on the bevel.

Rare earths are really strong, will easily hold a knife if you have to spaced rows of thick enough bar magnets. I use a router to mill the groove to place the magnets.


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## niwaki-boy (May 1, 2018)

Moooza said:


> Might be late to the party, but I've found two lines of continuous bar magnets works best. I previously tried closely spaced round magnets but found with small petty's, it caused them to sit on the bevel.
> 
> Rare earths are really strong, will easily hold a knife if you have to spaced rows of thick enough bar magnets. I use a router to mill the groove to place the magnets.



Yup this is the way to go. I had a bunch of rounds to use up now Im using bars in two rows routed in back, sometimes front if using veneer.


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