Magnetic hand-sanding block?

L

Leon Husock

Joined
Jul 17, 2019
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313
Clamps are annoying (they get in the way sometimes, they make the end of your knife pop up off the block, etc). I was thinking I could make a magnetic block for hand-sanding by buying some 1-1.5" rare earth disc magnets and sinking them in a normal wood hand-sanding block and gluing them there, then covering them with some fresh masking tape for each use so they don't accumulate a bunch of crud and scratch up the knives. Does anyone have experience with magnets that would suggest whether this would work or not? I'd hate to spend $40 on magnets and then find out the knife just kind of slides around on them.

Note: I'm not looking for better ways to clamp my knives. I know clamps aren't *that* much of a pain, I just love a good harebrained invention.
 
i have a few magnetic blocks i use from time to time . mine are aluminum machined to hold the magnets below the surface, covered with liquid rubber to clamp the blades onto without causing scratches.
#1 as "Count" says they magnetize the blades pretty fast.. you HAVE to buy/build a demagnetizer to use after you remove the blade from the magnet ( i personally think everyone should own one)

You could make a block with magnets slightly below the surface and maybe cover it with thin kydex.. But as you have been Warned you can still get scratches on your blade...
i have other non magnetic ways of holding blades to hand sand.. think like a engraving vise.. it grips on the outside profile of the blade..
 
Leon Husock said:
I forgot that magnets magnetize things! Derp.
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Don't forget that they can also be used to de-magnetize things. And you can use a piece of painter's tape over the magnet to keep the magnet clean.
I have a 1" square x 3" long rare earth magnet that would hold it if you want. It's so strong that I haven't found a use for it and have it in a box surrounded by ~3/4" of wood to prevent things sticking to the box.
 
weo said:
Don't forget that they can also be used to de-magnetize things. And you can use a piece of painter's tape over the magnet to keep the magnet clean.
I have a 1" square x 3" long rare earth magnet that would hold it if you want. It's so strong that I haven't found a use for it and have it in a box surrounded by ~3/4" of wood to prevent things sticking to the box.
Click to expand...

Damn, that's a strong magnet. I've never tried de-magnetizing things with magnets, but the painter's tape was my plan. Maybe I'll get some magnets at some point and try it out on a knife I'm not super invested in. My plan was to use disc magnets just because I have a set of forstner bits that would work well for bedding them in the block, whereas to bed a rectangular one I think I'd have to use a router or something.
 
Leon Husock said:
Damn, that's a strong magnet.
Click to expand...
That was my exact quote when I went to put the unopened box on my metal welding table as it was pulled out of my fingers about 2" away from the table. I needed both hands to get it off.
Now that I think about it, I wonder how many external drives and other computer/electrical components got messed with during the shipping...
 
I use a powerful rectangular magnet on the blade of slipjoint when flattening on a granite block.

Anyone who makes slipjoints will be familiar with blood on your sandpaper, this solves that.

I then put it on the demagnetizer
 
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