Is your blade magnetized???

[joeshredd]

Got a wierd Q for y'all... I got a CRKT Hammond (?) Desert Cruiser a short time ago... A couple of days ago I was using it to open something while I had a screwdriver in my hand.. When the two inadvertantly touched, I noticed a wee bit too much resistance in seperating them... I touched the screwdriver to some metal and it didn't grab, but when I again touched the blade to it, it stuck...

So, I tried several other pocketknives that I carry on a regular basis - a couple of Benchmades, a Spyderco and a couple of other CRKT's... None of them appeared to be magnetized...

Any clues? Is this just a chance abberation? And if it is something that may serve in an explosive environment, y'all may want to check yours!

 

[mycroftt]

Any piece of iron or steel can become magnetized. Sometimes you can magnetize a screwdriver by aligning it north-south and whacking it with a hammer. When I've had hand tools become magnetized I've been able to demagnetize them by dropping them on the concrete garage floor a couple of times. I wouldn't recommend that for a knife. Try rubbing it with a strong magnet or create a magnetic field by looping a current-carrying wire and passing the knife through the loop.

Or you can buy a demagnetizer but that wouldn't be any fun.

 

[Laceration]

My M16 is pretty heavily magnetized, so much so that I can pick up other knives with it. I don't know why. I left it on top of my surround speakers for awhile but those are supposed to be sheilded. The only other thing I can think of is from sharpening.

 

[Quiet Storm]

Click here, I hope this helps.

 

[joeshredd]

Click here, I hope this helps.

It clears up some basice magnetic questions... I knew I could magnetize tools and how to demagnetize them...

What I'm most curious about is that I haven't sharpened it, struck metal with it nor cut anything other than a blackberry and some cardboard... I sit there and flip it quite a bit, and unless static electricity from the handle materials can somehow combine with the metal to create the effect, I belive it left the manufacturer that way...

And if that's the case - where's it coming from?

And, what about some unsuspecting young Marine using it to probe for mines without knowing it's magnetized???

Maybe this thread can at least raise the possibility of this and flag those that need to know...

 

[Bucktool_02]

I once saw on TV, it might have been one of those Bob Vila shows, where he magnetized a screwdriver. He took an old loudspeaker woofer and rubbed the screwdriver right on the magnet, which magnetized the screwdriver. Then to 'turn off' the magnetism, he rubbed the screwdriver on a different part of the magnet. I guess the trick is to rub on a polar end of the magnet to charge up the magnetism and to rub on the opposite polar end of the magnet to turn it off. I would try this trick before doing anything else more drastic--like chucking it at the garage floor, cooking it on the stove, or in the oven. Good luck!
- Frank

 

[yuzuha]

Could be they dropped it at the factory and it landed so it was aligned with the earth's field, or maybe was quenched lined up with the field. Some steels are very permeable and just concentrate the earth's field (hold two strips of mu metal in line with the field and they'll jump at each other as if they were magnitized even though they aren't). Vibration might do it too under the right conditions... I won't swear to it, but it seems like some of mine became slightly magnetic from sharpening them on a 1k waterstone.... suppose it depends on the alloy since others seem unaffected by much of anything.