MagChuck, A Knifemakers Tool

[Contender Machine]

Hey BladeForums,


I thought I'd get on here and share a little project of mine that I thought would be fun to do.

About a year ago I made what I've come to refer to as the MagChuck. I originally designed it because I wanted a better, faster means of holding onto folder blades while I hand sanded them. I quickly discovered after making the first one just how useful it was for most any knife blade or other steel knife part I needed to hold onto. I've used it for everything from hand sanding to bevel grinding to milling blade blanks flat in the CNC. I liked using it and figured other people would as well so I made several more and now I'm selling them.


This is similar to some other blade holding jigs out there but mine is different in that it uses a quick on/off magnet to quickly attach the blade to the tool and then uses dowel pins that can be placed where ever needed to solidly hold the blade in place when being sanded, ground or filed on.

Can be held in your hand to sand the flats of the blade nicely. A little trick I discovered is that if you lay your sand paper flat on a steel top bench or steel sanding block the magnet will help hold the blade flat to the bench top while you rub it back and forth. Helps prevent rocking at the end of your strokes this way.

The tool itself can be held in a standard vice and then the blade can be taken on and off for inspection or repositioning with a simple 180 degree turn of the magnets' knob. There are no screws or clamps to contend with so no extra tools are needed. This picture shows how the dowel pins can be placed to hang the edge off of the side so the bevels can be sanded. To sand the other side you simply mirror the dowel pins to the opposite side and flip the blade over.

Another way to hold the blade. This is useful for sanding the spine or doing file work. With three dowels giving three points of holding contact the blade is 100% solidly held in place.

I've also found it useful for doing final sharpening on the contact wheel.

Another awesome use for this tool is as a bevel grinding fixture. Here it is setting on my KMG. The block is CNC machined to it is as about as square and precise as it gets to help make your grinds as clean as possible. Unlike other grinding jigs the MagChuck allows you to remove the blade in a few seconds for inspection and quickly reattach. The dowels can easily be mirrored to the opposite side and the blade flipped and positioned in an exact 180 degree mirror every time when switching sides. There are no awkward screws or clamps sticking out the top of the blade to get in the way and the magnet puts no external strain on the blade so it always lays flat. Turning off the magnet and giving it a couple blasts of air will clear off all the grinding/sanding dust.


Specs:

-The face is 4 x 1.5 inches.

-Has 76 indexing holes that accept .125 dowels.

-Uses a MagSwitch on/off magnet with 95 pounds of holding force.

-The block is CNC machined from billet 6061 Aluminum and then professionally hard coat anodized and dyed black. For those not familiar, the hard coat anodize gives the aluminum an incredibly hard surface to resist scratches and dings. This greatly increases the life of the tool.

-To be effective you need to use 3 dowel pins to hold the blade solidly. Since they are small and fairly easy to lose when dropped I'll include a couple extras in the box. If you need more they are readily available from places like McMaster or MSC and very cheap. Or I can send more to anyone who'd rather not have to go shopping. I can honestly say that the pins stay in place very nicely and I have very little trouble with them coming out when I don't want them too.


Price is $125 plus $10 UPS Ground anywhere in the lower 48. Preferably I would like to use paypal but I will accept checks from anyone who prefers to go that route.


Shoot me an email at dnutt12@hotmail.com including your full name, shipping address, and preferred payment method. I will send invoices via paypal and will ship the tools after payment is received. Reply to this thread to get first come first serve. These are also currently available at Midwest Knifemaker Supply.

Please feel free to speak your thoughts or ask questions!

I hope you enjoy 'em!


Thanks,


Darren Nutt

 

[Andre Basset]

Darren, Im willing to try one out. Email sent.

 

[WatermanChris]

What is the largest blade that this tool will hold effectively? I'm wanting to hand-sand a couple of bead blasted fixed-blades (Busses) and I was thinking this might work.

 

[REK Knives]

This is really sweet, but have you considered making in steel? The reason being is that would allow use on a surface grinder. could come in useful for doing things like jimping or lock face grinding. Just a thought, I would probably get one if so

 

[Contender Machine]

What is the largest blade that this tool will hold effectively? I'm wanting to hand-sand a couple of bead blasted fixed-blades (Busses) and I was thinking this might work.

Thanks for your interest.

The tool is 4 inches long and so anything longer than that will hang off the ends. If you’re sanding a fixed blade, for example, with a 6 inch blade and 4 inch tang and you want to focus on the blade you could hook the bottom of the blade against a couple dowels near one end of the tool and then the tip of the blade would hang about 2 inches off the other end which should be plenty rigid for sanding. I hope that makes sense. This size of tool is suited well for folder blades and fixed blades up to maybe 6-7 inches long, depends a bit on the thickness of the blade itself. Larger fixed blades with full tangs may not work so well on these. I will say though that if anyone wants a larger model I would make them one. If you have any specific concerns email me a pic of the blade and the rough dimensions and I’ll see if I think it’d work good for you.

 

[Contender Machine]

This is really sweet, but have you considered making in steel? The reason being is that would allow use on a surface grinder. could come in useful for doing things like jimping or lock face grinding. Just a thought, I would probably get one if so

That’s a good idea and I wish I could do it but unfortunately if you mount those magnets inside a steel block it greatly reduces the magnets pull. The block would “consume” all of the magnetic field if you will. A small machinist vice on your surface grinder chuck would hold onto the MagChuck well enough. Then your small parts can be quickly removed and inspected then repeatedly put back on. Repeatability can easily be under .001

 

[REK Knives]

That’s a good idea and I wish I could do it but unfortunately if you mount those magnets inside a steel block it greatly reduces the magnets pull. The block would “consume” all of the magnetic field if you will. A small machinist vice on your surface grinder chuck would hold onto the MagChuck well enough. Then your small parts can be quickly removed and inspected then repeatedly put back on. Repeatability can easily be under .001

Interesting didn't know that! Ok well I'm going to pm you about building one of that's a little larger then.

 

[Andre Basset]

I may be interest in larger one in the future. Ill try this smaller one first as Im grinding some folder blades and traditional blades are tiny. Its still raining here which is making my Lyme hands hurt.