On Oct 31, 9:57*pm, "Steve B" wrote:
I want to make a knife bar out of rare earth magnets to hold my kitchen
knives. *If I hold the surface of the knives off just a tad, can I avoid the
scratching that would be produced with the knives touching metal to metal?
Or will there be enough magnetic attraction if I use thicker magnets to suck
them *up against a oak or plastic substrate that would be sufficient to keep
them in place, and a few thousandths of airspace between?

Or lastly, to apply a thin plastic face onto the magnet so that it never
touches metal to metal?

Steve

This is one of those times when I gotta ask "why"? There are plenty
of magnetic knife racks in the hardware stores, pick one and be
happy! By the time you get it all set up, it's going to run you a
hell of a lot more than the purchased unit. You're reinventing the
wheel. Ceramic magnets would be the ones to use here, the factory
jobbies sandwich a line of them between steel pole pieces. You DO
eventually want to remove the knives, after all. The REMs I use for
woodworking tasks have a nickel plating on them, this eventually gets
worn and the magnet starts to corrode, would be even more likely in a
humid kitchen. NOT the item for the job.

Stan