"Harold and Susan Vordos" wrote in message
...
All the older types of magnet steels and even the
latest Alnicos behave this way and 50 to 90% loss of field
strength from incautious disassembly is possible.

Ceramic (ferrite) and rare earth (samarium etc)
magnets behave differently. Their coercive force is so high
that they can withstand being magnetically open circuited
without serious loss of field strength.

Jim

Thanks, Jim. You likely hit the answer right on the head. This incident
occured back in ealy '67----when mag bases were, indeed, Alnico.

Harold

Nope, he's completely off-base. Totally confused.
LLoyd