Magnetic Knife holder suggestions

[brianwelch]

Any recommendations or recent experience with making these? I did see a thread from about 8 years ago, not sure much has changed...
We used one in a VRBO we rented last week and were favorably impressed... I have plenty of nice cutoffs to use, just not sure of the best magnet set up...round vs bar, strength, etc...
Thanks in advance...

[OneStaple]

I made one a few years ago that I've been pretty happy with (think I posted it on here). I used 1/2" round magnets connected in a line and backed by a 1/2" wide piece of steel. The steel helps increase the magnetism towards the knives. The size, spacing, and strength of the magnets will dictate how close they need to be to the front of the wood, but it's generally in the 1/16" range. I'd recommend a continuous line so there's not dead spots.

There are two approaches to making a holder. The first is drilling from the front and then laminating a piece of wood over the holes of the right thickness. I think this approach makes it harder to fine tune the wood thickness in front of the magnets except by sanding (a hand or power planer will be attracted to the magnets).

The second approach, which I used, is to route a groove for the magnets from the back. A router bit generally works better than a drill bit because there's no point to punch through to the front. I found the best approach to be increasing the bit depth a tiny bit at a time and doing test fits with my knives to see when the magnets were holding strongly enough.

Keep in mind that different knives will grab the magnets differently, so you might have to find a happy medium for your knives. And the orientation of the holding of the knives will dictate the number of rows and how strongly they need to grab. Generally, two rows is good so as to avoid rotation of the knives. I used three rows because my knives are held completely horizontal instead of vertical, meaning I used the most challenging orientation.

Good luck, and post pictures!

Tyler

[FS7]

I made one without giving it a whole lot of thought. I saw one posted on another forum I frequent (not even a woodworking forum) and I asked how it was made. I got a very non-collegial response, implying that the creator had so much blood, sweat, and tears into the design that they weren't at all willing to share any knowledge. I took that as a challenge and decided to go ahead and make one. Surprise, it's not rocket science, but what you do depends on your construction. The wood itself doesn't matter - I used about 3/32" bocote cut from a turning blank with mahogany as the body wood. I used round neodymium magnets. How many you use depends on the strength of the magnets and the size of the blade. Too many, and the hold will be too strong and you risk pulling the whole block with you. Too few, and it won't hold. It also helps to have a heavy base to keep it stable. The design I initially saw was two-sided so that's what I did, though that's not really practical.

[brianwelch]

Thanks...I could/should have been more clear and indicated a wall mounted version is what I had in mind, but the principles remain pretty much the same.
Agree it's not rocket science, but the brain trust here has been pretty good at identifying the little nuances that separate good versions from great versions...
Thanks again...

[MsNomer]

If I were making one, I’d check out the HF magnetic tool strips. Dado it into the rear.