Uses of magnets in blacksmithing?

[Shainarue]

What do I not know yet about magnets?

[JHCC]

Hard to answer that without knowing what you already do know about magnets.

[Scott NC]

  Rabbit hole alert!!!!  For all of us.

[Shainarue]

haha - maybe someone start a thread of all the awesome things you can do with magnets as it relates to blacksmithing!

(Mod note: Ask, and you shall receive.)

What I know about magnets as it relates to blacksmithing:

• They hold up my notes on the metal shed door.
• I've seen tips that putting one on the underside of the anvil heel can help deaden the ring
• Specifically welding magnets - can help hold together two pieces of metal to a 90 degree angle while being tacked into place
• I guess a long magnetized bar could hold punches and such?

[George N. M.]

They do make magnetized tool holders for things like screwdrivers, wrenches, punches, etc..

I have a welding magnet, one of the ones with 2 square magnets linked by 2 arms.  I most commonly use it as a hold down to keep things in place on the face of the anvil.

And, yes, a magnet under the heel will help deaden the ring by interfering with the vibrations.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Goods]

I most often use a magnet in the forge for judging critical temperature for heat treatment. When heating up for a quench, the part in question will lose magnetism right around critical (for most steels). I also will bring the part to the same temperature for normalization, but I’m not sure it that is the best practice.

Keep it fun,

David

[Glenn]

Put a magnet in a plastic bag and collect the drill bit cuttings at the drill press or the slag around the forge or anvil.  Reverse the bag and throw away the debris, leaving the magnet clean.

[Daswulf]

2 hours ago, Goods said:

When heating up for a quench,

As a side note, i had a magnet on a flexy stick for automotive use to pick up dropped bolts and tools that lost most of its magnetism from using it like that.  

[Goods]

Yeah, I use a cheap harbor freight pick up magnet.
At one of our hammer-ins the smith had a magnet on a string hanging above the forge to check magnetism. If it didn’t swing when the steel got close you were good. When not in use, he just stuck it to a part of the hood out of his way and away from the heat. I may get around to stealing that idea at some point.

Keep it fun,

David

[Michael]

I use the extendo stick magnet to, yes, pick up things I've dropped and often can't reach. Metal walls of the shop are festooned with magnets holding up drawings and other paper, and my stainless beer keg quench tank has a magnet slung on a cord and tied to one handle of the keg. I don't always want a shoulder depth reach for stuff dropped in the quench. 

[Shainarue]

I just came across another tip from my local chapter to attach a magnet to the side of the drill press to hold the chuck key. Brilliant.

I have a few extendo stick magnets for picking up stuff from the ground - or more often, SEARCHING for something i dropped but can't see (since I'm often working in the dark). I love Glenn's suggestion to cover it with a plastic bag for pickup up shavings/slag. I need to do that soon since every time I use that stick to find an object, it comes up covered in shavings!

[Glenn]

You can attach a small LED light on the magnet of a stick to help find things in the dark.  

If you use the magnet on the drill press to hold the chuck key, tie a string to the magnet and the drill press so the key can not be dropped or misplaced.

[BillyBones]

I have 3 or 4 magnetic bars that are 2' long that i used to use to hold sockets to my tool cart when i was working on transmission. 

When i got my drill press used i did not get the chuck key for it, forgot to ask before i left, the one i bought is a 4 way for different size chicks and came with a magnet built in. Another magnet stuck to the side is good place to keep a chip brush as well. 

[Scott NC]

  You can also use a magnet on the drill press or other places to hold a small light that can be re-positioned to see better at various angles.  I made a light fixture out of a night light.

  I made some right angle welding magnet fixtures out of neodymium magnets because most of the boughten ones are weak.  Those magnets are not for everybody though because they are powerful and DANGEROUS.  I pinched my thumb once and it wasn't pretty.  

[JHCC]

16 hours ago, Goods said:

a magnet on a string hanging above the forge to check magnetism. If it didn’t swing when the steel got close you were good.

I've done this as well. A smaller magnet is better, so that if it does swing over, it's easier to pull the workpiece away.

3 hours ago, Michael said:

my stainless beer keg quench tank has a magnet slung on a cord

Ooh, I like this. Will definitely steal.

[Shainarue]

I have also pinched my fingers between a pair of neodymium. YOUCH. And these were just itty bitty ones. I can't imagine the pain from big ones clamping down on a thumb!

Another tip I just ran across (I'm catching up on reading articles from my local chapter, lol) was in an article about improving your heat treating. The test piece is a flat bar about 1/8 inch thick by about 1/2 to 5/8 inch wide:

"An easy way to hold the test pieces for clean up is to put a welding magnetic holder in your vise jaws. You can then lay flat surface of the test piece on the magnet for grinding. Then flip and do the other side"

I'm wondering if a speaker magnet would be a similar strength to the welding magnet they referenced?

[JHCC]

Depends on the speaker!

Lots of folks use a strong welding magnet to hold blades against a belt grinder. Keeps your hands away from the belt, but can get fuzzy with steel particles.

[Buzzkill]

A really strong magnet can also create a problem when using a steel flat platen on a belt grinder.  I'm planning on switching my flat platen to non-magnetic stainless one of these days since I do like my strong magnets when grinding.

[Frosty]

Not if you put it in a plastic bag or wrap it in something less melty. I have magnets everywhere, lots of welding magnets and quite a few little horse shoe magnets, speakers, and especially old hard drive magnets are powerful. Hard drive magnets are good for fishing as the shell is an anti magnetic so nothing sticks to the outside and makes removing the plastic bag easy. 

A couple few Christmases ago Deb bought me a magnetic bracelet, no not some aluminum foil beany miracle cure gizmo, it's a tool holder, has pockets, loops and strong magnets, it'll hold my 3/8" drive wobble head ratchet no sweat but what am I going to do with an arm covered in tools and shavings? It appears to be one of those great ideas that are hard to find a use for. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Shainarue]

An inventor doesn't fail - they just discover ways in which their invention doesn't work.

[BillyBones]

I used to use something like that wrist magnet to drop the pans on transmissions. The magnet was about 2" round with a velcro strap. Stick it to the bottom of the pan and it made it much more manageable when trying to get that last bolt out and not cover your self and the floor in trans fluid. Oh, i used the strap more like a  handle than put it around my wrist. 

Putting them around your wrist will make a convenient place to hold all those  little bolts when putting the pan  back on though.

[Shainarue]

I fell prey to a marketing gimmick a few years back for a product which was basically what you just described - except it was marketed as a band to put around your drink bottle and then stick to various convenient places (the weight rack, shopping cart, whatever random metal object happened to be nearby when you wanted to set your drink down). Was this really an issue that needed addressed? No. It wasn't. I still just put my bottle on the ground, lol. HOWEVER, I did use that strap fairly often while we were touring the Missouri State Parks. The band would stay on my water bottle and my phone would attach to the magnet (I have a magnetic car mount) so I could set the bottle/phone stand somewhere and take a timed selfie of us at each park. That was the most use I ever got out of it. 

Now I'm thinking I need to dig it up and use it somehow in the shed!

[JHCC]

My wife sells a magnetic wristband in her yarn shop; it's designed to hold your stitch markers when you're working on a complicated pattern and don't want to be constantly picking them up and putting them down. Not strong enough for forge use, though.

[BillyBones]

My mom has a pin cushion she wears on her wrist when she is quilting. 

[anvil]

A lot of good suggestions here,  but for me the primary reason for a magnet in my shop is to find critical temp, like was mentioned above. I believe crit temp is a little above where you lose magnetism. How far? Well thats sorta like a pinch of salt when you are cooking and needs a bit of practice to hit it.