OT I was reading a woodworking magazine

I haven't checked to see if a strong magnet will go through veneer, but magnetism weakens VERY quickly with distance. The magnets would have to be on, or just below the surface. I was thinking that you could hide them in biscuit jointer slots, but I doubt that it would fly. Veneer may be the only answer IF that'll work. Dave in Fairfax

Rare earth magnets (neomidium? without going to the trouble of checking the dictionary) penetrate quite deeply. You'll quickly tear up veneer if you put it between the magnet and some steel (tool). I hide very small ones (3/16" diameter) into woodturnings for 'fridge holders. These are all kinds of dense exotics (cocobolo, purpleheart, snakewood, etc.) and I've buried them as deep as 1/2" inside. They stick REALLY well! I wouldn't be surprised if you could put a 1" diameter behind a 2 x 4 and have it hold up a good sized sledge hammer.

As for how they are hidden in the tool chest .... it could have been any number of common methods but the point is that it ISN'T magic. It could have been drilled/plugged, split/glued, or maybe heavily veneered as you suggested.

- Andrew

Thanks for the tip. I'm surprised that they work that well, opens up all sorts of possibilities. Dave in Fairfax

BTW, heed those warnings that usually come with the larger diameter ones (3/4" to 1" or bigger) about not getting your fingers between 2 of them when bringing them together. You CAN fracture a digit. Been there and done that one.

- Andrew

Hmmm that got me to thinking of something pretty stupid (don't go there Kip!) .... a magnetic lathe chuck (not "Chuck *#:^)" but chuck).

- Andrew

not too stupid, with some of the magnets from scitoys.com(they are cubes, instead of round and thin) I think you could easily have it work. the only problem would be prying it apart when you want to get it off, or having your tool get dragged into where the magnets are(they go through a 2" tabletop to make another one move no problem)

it makes it hold stronger only in 1 direction(whatever the cup is attached to), its a way of holding the magnet without glueing. ie. if you were making a tool rack, you'd put cups on the wall, then the magnets would stay there, instead of a chance of them leaving with the tools.

If he did the drill/peg thing and did it right, it would be almost invisible. He could have drilled from the opposite side and then covered that over with something like a foot or other feature (or not). He could have simply resawed the entire length of the board; drilled a small hole in one or both *inside* faces of that board and carefully glued it back together. There's all kinds of ways of doing this kind of thing. Do a search on the web for wooden puzzles. The high-end kind and not the kid stuff. It's amazing what some of these guys come up with and the workmanship that goes into completely hiding the inner workings (which is often due to magnets, springs, bearings and simple mechanics).

Without seeing the piece in question, I wouldn't be able to give you a definitive answer.

- Andrew

And, w/o looking it up to get the exact figure, placing the magnet in a metal cup (like a deep washer) actually doubles or trebles its magnetism.

-- Chuck *#:^) chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com Anti-spam sig: please remove "NO SPAM" from e-mail address to reply. <

September 11, 2001 - Never Forget

There's a hole of course, but it can be drilled from behind. I made a couple oval shaped reliquaries this way, with lids that just lay on and stay put magnetically. The holes for the magnets are drilled from the back side such that there is about 3/32 of wood left at the front, the magnets glued in, then the hole back filled with bondo or epoxy. The whole back of the item was covered with felt. The lids had very thin magnets glued in to attract to the buried ones in the reliquaries, and these would be visible when the lid is removed, except I put a little high friction rubber disc over each magnet. Lee Valley sells the discs just for this purpose.

Another cool thing: I used a magnet at each end of the oval to hold the lid on. Since I was sticking magnet to magnet, and not magnet to chunk-of-plain-metal, it was easy to use the polarity of the magnets so that the lid could only go on one way, i.e. if you flip it end for end, the magnets repel and the lid won't line up. Since the lid was sliced right off the main piece, this keeps the grain aligned in it's original orientation.

Not that any of this description is effective in conveying my meaning... :-)

The magnets are amazingly strong. Two 1/2" dia. by 1/8" thick ones attract strongly enough to stick on either side of your hand. A great vendor I found for these is:

see some really cool uses for them, scroll down to "Using RareEarth Magnets" on this page: Sanaka

Not sure I should give this link to Reyd... so here's the official disclaimer- going to the following site WILL cost you money, friends, family, and respect. Bookmarking it as a 'favourite' will cause instant geek-dom and you will start finding pocket protectors appearing and tape on your safety glasses.

If you are up to the task, then go to:

and search for magnets. Very nice rare earth and ceramics for a more-or-less reasonable price. And look at some of the tools- I get barrel boring bars there in .38 for US$1.00 each. They make great box scrapers that hold an edge forever.

/vic

I am very concerned about the strength and easy availability of these magnets. They sound like WMD's. Think of all the thermostat armatures, microswitch and relay arms, not to mention belt buckles, safety pins and brassiere clasps that can be opened or closed by terrorists or teen- agers. { :( or :) according to whose plan} How are they shipped? That might help explain the speed of snail mail. There's always something to upset rcw! Arch

Fortiter,

Dont have any money friends or respect, so I think I'm safe:p

if only those magnets would do things like that(all the fun with the school ligtswitches that have a cover over the metal part... but they magnetize both pieces(of the belts or brassiere's or thermostat's)

I think they're shipped inside an Almanac, which is the only thing that will shield against them.

-- Chuck *#:^) chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com Anti-spam sig: please remove "NO SPAM" from e-mail address to reply. <

September 11, 2001 - Never Forget

Here's another one:

I've ordered from them and had great service. (I even dared to order a pair of the 1.5" square jobs - they were shipped in a metal enclosure - and the warnings about pinched and bloodied body parts is sooooo true. I totally screwed up my TV for a day or so after I got them a few feet too close - watch out for wiping out your credit cards if you should get them a little too close to your wallet. I use one of these on the backside of the lathe to hold the dust collector elbow-duct-end in position; I also use the small disks to keep various rulers, sand paper and other odds and ends stuck to the lathe within arm's reach. The open-end and allen wrenches that come with my stationary tools, like my jointer or drill press, are stuck via rare-earth to their respective tools.)

Here's the direct link to the Ne magnets

_____ American Association of Woodturners Cascade Woodturners Assoc., Portland, Oregon Northwest Woodturners, Tigard, Oregon _____