Magnets for knife holder
If you haven't seen our video about make a magnetic knife rail, you should start there first, as it gives a good explanation of why you can't use all magnets for a knife rail.
Choose magnets for knife holder
Fortunately, there are many options when you have to choose magnets for your own knife holder. But first you have to decide whether you want direct contact between the knives and magnets, or whether you have to build the knife holder out of something that creates a gap and thus requires much stronger magnets.
To make it a little easier for you, you can see our calculations of the most popular magnetic strengths here, where you get information about strength with direct contact and with a gap of 2 and 5 mm respectively. between magnet and knife (e.g. created from a piece of wood or a tile behind which the magnets must be hidden).
Choice of magnet shape
You can use both round and square magnets for your knife magnet. So it depends on your design what is best suited. Regardless of the magnet shape, the knives will always be attracted to the strongest place, which is the center of the magnet.
If the magnets are to be hidden behind something, you can use a cup drill (hole saw) for small pockets for disc magnets, and you can mill a long groove with e.g. a milling iron for square magnets.
Space between the magnets along the way
It can be a good idea to attach one magnet at a time when you make a magnetic rail from e.g. tree. The magnets are so strong that they want to be attracted to each other's magnetic field; these are violent forces, and one should not want to get a hand or finger between two magnets that are slamming together.
Cup drill:
When using a cup drill to make round pockets with (to disc magnets), you automatically create distance between the magnets so that they do not have " free access" to each other's magnetic field, which makes it easier for you to work with the magnets in quick succession. You can easily attach the magnets with a dab of glue, a screw clamp or something else that will hold the magnet in place while you are working on your DIY project.
Milling iron:
When you mill a groove in a piece of wood or the like. (for block magnets), occurs " free access" between the magnets. It can therefore be a really good idea to put some spacers between the magnets until they are fixed (e.g. with glue) so that they cannot slam together at high speed - they break from that, and it is frustrating to would have to start all over again when you are starting. It is therefore often necessary to calculate more time to make a knife rail, where a groove is milled for the magnets.
Whatever you choose, it is a matter of your access to the right tool, and then of course, it has a lot to do with whether you are patient enough to make an open groove, or whether you can operate a cup drill at all.
Important info about knife magnets - before you start
< p>An important thing when you plan to make a knife magnet is that your knives have handles (handles) you need to be able to grip when you need to take the knives down from the magnet or the knife rail, so it requires some distance between wall and knife.You can therefore not just take a flat magnet and stick it on the kitchen wall, because you have to remember to calculate the distance you need, so that you can get a good grip on the knife handle, and so that the knife blade does not sitting in an arc due to thicker shaft than magnet.
Calculating strength requirements
We have a lot of strength loss calculations on our other pages, but here we want to show how heavy a knife the magnets can carry when they have:
p> - direct contact
- distance of 2 mm., and
- distance of 5 mm.
to the knife, that must hang. Because you can't just look at strength loss, as the weight of the knife also has a lot to say about which strength you should go for. This is why, despite direct contact, greater strength is needed for the knife if it is heavy (as, for example, a chef's knife often is).
Here are some calculations you can use practically for your knife project:
Opr. strength 3.0 kg.:
Direct: 750 g.
2 mm.: 225 g.
5 mm.: 60 g.
Opr . strength 3.5 kg.:
Direct: 875 g.
2 mm.: 263 g.
5 mm.: 70 g.
Opr . strength 4.0 kg.:
Direct: 1.00 kg.
2 mm.: 300 g.
5 mm.: 80 g.
Record strength 4.5 kg.:
Direct: 1.13 kg.
2 mm.: 338 g.
5 mm.: 90 g.
Record strength 5.0 kg.:
Direct: 1.25 kg.
2 mm.: 375 g.
5 mm.: 100 g.
Record strength 5.5 kg.:
Direct: 1.38 kg.
2 mm.: 413 g.
5 mm.: 110 g.
Record strength 6.0 kg.:
Direct: 1.50 kg.
2 mm.: 450 g.
5 mm.: 120 g.
Record strength 10 kg.:
Direct: 2.50 kg.
2 mm.: 750 g.
5 mm.: 200 g.
Opr . strength 15 kg.:
Direct: 3.75 kg.
2 mm.: 1.13 kg.
5 mm.: 300 g.
Record strength 20 kg.:
Direct: 5.00 kg.
2 mm.: 1.50 kg.
5 mm.: 400 g.
Record strength 25 kg.:
Direct: 6.25 kg.
2 mm.: 1.88 kg.
5 mm.: 500 g.
Record strength 30 kg.:
Direct: 7.50 kg.
2 mm.: 2.25 kg.
5 mm.: 600 g.
>> VIEW ALL POWER MAGNETS BY STRENGTH HERE <<
Still not sure about strength selection?
We make a living by giving good advice to our customers, and you are very welcome to contact us if you don't have the courage to figure out which magnets you need, or if you have other questions about magnets for knife holders that you didn't get answered in this post. We are ready to chat with you or talk to you on the phone every weekday during opening hours. Our phone no. is 71993612. You can find the chat in the bottom right corner. And of course you can also send us an e-mail.