Magnetized!

A

amati1543

Joined
Dec 28, 2008
Messages
54
This is going to sound utterly ridiculous, but here goes...
I work at Blockbuster where we use fairly strong magnets to pull out the locks on rental movies, and I often brush against them while walking around behind the counters. Today I was using a needle to thread some cord through the handle of my kiwi to make a fob/lanyard thingie, when I noticed the needle kept sticking to the inside of the hole. Upon testing it on several places on the handle, and with a few other metallic items, I found out that it's MAGNETIZED. I tested my poliwog and delica: same deal. My other non-work knives are perfectly normal. Has anyone else had this problem? More importantly, could this be detrimental to the knives? If so, how would I go about de-magnetizing them?
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and am I a complete idiot for accidentally magnetizing knives?
 
It happens. Only time will demagnitize your blade.

If you want a better explanation google it. :D
 
amati1543 said:
how would I go about de-magnetizing them?
Click to expand...

You could go to your local watchmaker and have them demagnetize it for you.It should only take a second,assuming they have have a demagnetizer ... an oval shaped device.It's used to demagnetize horological tools and devices;magnetism is looked at as detrimental to time keeping.
 
Lol. You can run a magnet down it lengthwise to degauss it.

I do that to all of my screwdrivers and what not. Run a magnet the length of it in one direction to magnetize and in the reverse direction to degauss's it. It never completely demagnetizes it but its close. Or, you could try a watchmaker, like razorburn said.
 
If you make a coil of wrapping wire around something hollow (toilet paper tube works, about 100 wraps) and then plug both ends into a 5V AC line you make a very effective degausser. Just place whatever you want inside the tube. The alternating magnetic lines (from the ac current) scrambles the alignment and demagnetizes.
 
amati1543 said:
This is going to sound utterly ridiculous, but here goes...
I work at Blockbuster where we use fairly strong magnets to pull out the locks on rental movies, and I often brush against them while walking around behind the counters. Today I was using a needle to thread some cord through the handle of my kiwi to make a fob/lanyard thingie, when I noticed the needle kept sticking to the inside of the hole. Upon testing it on several places on the handle, and with a few other metallic items, I found out that it's MAGNETIZED. I tested my poliwog and delica: same deal. My other non-work knives are perfectly normal. Has anyone else had this problem? More importantly, could this be detrimental to the knives? If so, how would I go about de-magnetizing them?
...
...
and am I a complete idiot for accidentally magnetizing knives?
Click to expand...
I have heard it said that stainless becomes magnitized during the process of heat treating.
 
they sell cheap de-magnitizerz i think through enco, i wouldnt purchase for just a knife or two, but im thinking on getting one, i have a set of starret punches, as well as several other tools that are constantly getting covered with magnetic shavings, and there never even arround magnets
 
Or you could just not worry about it as it is not detrimental to your knives in any way. :)
 
Get a good steel bar (you can use a stout bolt,) and FIRMLY attach a strong permanent magnet to it (cow magnets and bailing wire work well. Maybe zip ties.) Now chuck the contraption in a drill and rev it up (This will be an extremely wobbly goblin. Be careful.) Pass the spinning magnet over the magnetized part/knife/whatever. You should be able to completely destroy any hint of magnetism in the offending part/knife/whatever. Be patient. You might have make a pass in a couple of different directions before you get it to work completely.

Test parts for magnetism with iron filings or finely ground steel wool.
 
Thanks to everone for the prompt and detailed replies!. My dad's friend is a watchmaker, so I took that route--with the exeption of the Kiwi. It seems to have been the strongest and since it doesn't hurt the knife (or my cell phone when they're together in the backpack), it's rather amusing to have a magnetic Kiwi.
 
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