Magnets and hand tools

[Kevin Hampshire]

I'm curious about how many of you rely on magnets to store your hand tools?

I guess I've been conditioned to be worried about unintended damage (electronics, metal chips where you don't want them etc.) from having a magnetized tool.

[Jim Koepke]

Gees Lewees Kevin, are you trying to start a thread more contentious than those about sharpening or ruler tricks?

With a few exceptions my tools are kept unmagnetized. The exceptions are screwdrivers. Somewhere in my shop there is an old DC motor housing with some strong magnets inside. This works to demagnetize tools or it can magnetize a tool by dragging it across one of the magnets. Most of my tools seem to be made of steel with low magnetic retentivity properties.

It would be a disaster if the sole of a plane picked up a metal chip just before a few final smoothing passes.

jtk

[Kevin Hampshire]

Jim, I'm with you on that. I see magazines with articles showing chisels and screwdrivers on those magnetic racks.

Maybe magnetic tools lift the swarf off sharpening stones.

[Patrick Chase]

I'm curious about how many of you rely on magnets to store your hand tools?

I guess I've been conditioned to be worried about unintended damage (electronics, metal chips where you don't want them etc.) from having a magnetized tool.

Not me.

Keep in mind that most of those magnietic racks are actually relying on friction to hold the tool in place. The magnet pulls the tool towards the rack, but that doesn't prevent it from sliding down. Friction between the tool and magnetized surface is what does, so test accordingly :-).

[John Schtrumpf]

I have magnets in my tool chest, mainly to hold rulers and squares in place. I also have 2 magnetic multi-tip screwdrivers and a tube of magnets in there. I'm not worried about electronics, as my hand tools don't have any. As for a stray piece of metal, I very rarely modify an iron based fastener, have no grinder, and use water stones for sharpening.

[Tom Stenzel]

Jim, I'm with you on that. I see magazines with articles showing chisels and screwdrivers on those magnetic racks.

Maybe magnetic tools lift the swarf off sharpening stones.

Hey wait! What's so funny?

I had the bright idea to store my chisels on magnetic racks. It was when I saw the swarf chasing after the chisel I realized maybe it wasn't such a bright idea. I now use the racks for a set of nut drivers.

-Tom

[John K Jordan]

I'm curious about how many of you rely on magnets to store your hand tools?
I guess I've been conditioned to be worried about unintended damage (electronics, metal chips where you don't want them etc.) from having a magnetized tool.

I keep some screwdrivers (which I like magnetized), gimlets, stainless steel rulers, measuring tapes, allen keys, cheap vernier calipers, scissors, awls, hemostats, and a few other things on magnets. I also keep a variety of pencils and sharpies handy within arm's reach on magnets in various places in the shop, bandsaw, etc. To let the pencils stick to the magnets I wrap an inch or so of soft iron wire around the top of a pencil and wrap a bit of aluminum tape around the wire if needed to keep it in place.

One thing I learned the hard way: I sharpen some tools (for example some lathe tools) on a Tormek with a dry CBN wheel. I sharpen on the front side of the Tormek with the wheel moving away from the edge.

With the water wheel a magnetized tool was no problem. With the dry wheel it is terrible! The steel dust sticks to the tool and makes a long, black comet tail trailing above the edge. The dust hides the edge when sharpening then sticks to the tool when I'm done.

I solved this by keeping a bulk tape demagnetizer plugged in and on a hook near the Tormek to demagnetize the tool if needed.

BTW, these lathe tools get magnetized repeatedly although they are never stuck to or even near a magnet or close to a local magnetic field. There is a simple explanation.

JKJ