Nobody says your magnetic tool holder needs to be ugly. There are many utilitarian ones on the market, but there are also very elegant magnetic tool holders like these Mag-Bloks from BenchCrafted.
In addition to looking good, since Mag-Bloks are constructed out of wood, they won’t chip or dull your tools like a steel rail might.
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Made in the USA from maple, cherry, or walnut, Mag-Bloks are carefully constructed so as to appear to be a “single piece” of wood. BenchCrafted arranges the rare earth magnets inside the blocks to produce a continuous magnetic field, practically eliminating the presence of stronger or weaker zones along the block.
The resulting magnetic field is in fact so powerful that BenchCrafted claims that Mag-Bloks can hold large hand tools, although for heavier tools you might want to test this first or even use two Mag-Bloks spaced a few inches apart.
BenchCrafted embeds specially machined brass washers, which are countersunk to match match their solid brass screws, into Mag-Bloks for mounting to a wall or other surface. This helps to ensure you won’t split a Mag-Blok by over-tightening its mounting screws.
Mag-Bloks are now shipped unfinished, but BenchCrafted includes a tube of their “Blok Butter” with every order. BenchCrafted says that their naturally formulated Blok Butter satin wipe finish “seals, renews, and protects” Mag-Bloks and is also food-safe, in case you want to use it for your kitchen knives.
BenchCrafted sells Mag-Bloks in 12″ and 18″ lengths. The 12″ Mag-Blok costs $35 while the 18″ version will run you $48. They’ll ship either size to you for about $10.
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Buy Now (via BenchCrafted)
DIY Wooden Magnetic Tool Holders
BenchCrafted isn’t the only place to find wooden magnetic tool holders, – several ingenious DIY’ers have also built their own versions. For instance, you can find step-by-step instructions on making a rainbow wood magnetic knife strip over on Instructables.com
Build it Yourself (via Instructables)
Stan
Thank you Benjamen for sharing not only information on this American made product, but also the instructables link as well. Pretty creative idea and I won’t speak for anyone else, but to me, most importantly this is made in USA. Fairly reasonable in price.
matt
I bought one of these for the kitchen in a previous house about 5 years ago. The block is great- doesn’t scratch the knives and the magnets are strong, but not excessive.
No room for it in our current kitchen, so today it lives on a shop wall holding up my c-clamp collection. I found a weight limit when I stuck a large gear puller on the bar, but that is mostly the shape (and how far out it sticks). I don’t think it would have a problem holding a #4 bench plane, but I am not going to be the one to try. Just letting you know that these things work and hold up really, really well.
Hang Fire
Very nice for a Kitchen.
If I saw this in a woodshop, I would make fun of the owner for not making it him/herself. Wood, epoxy, rare Earth magnets and finish are all easy to come by and easy to work with.
Stan
From Hangfire “If I saw this in a woodshop, I would make fun of the owner for not making it him/herself. Wood, epoxy, rare Earth magnets and finish are all easy to come by and easy to work with.”
So if this was given to the person by their family or friends as a gift and this is all they might be able to potentially afford for them, would you still make fun of them? Especially if this came from their children or grandchildren?
Additionally, now and days this has become a real challenge sometimes to find American made items. USA made wood, magnets, brass washers and brass screws aren’t that easy locate in one central location anymore. Maybe USA made maple, cherry or walnut woods might be not so hard to locate, but USA made rare earth magnets and brass washers/screws typically aren’t sold at your average brick and mortar shop.
This unit even comes with a food grade safe wipe as well. For about $45 give or take, that isn’t such a high price for a item that seems well made.
Tammy
I would like this in my kitchen, nice to see that it’s food-safe!