I was somewhat incomplete in my listing of ways to store knives.
I have a mixed mind on magnets. There are a few things to consider when getting them.
1: How strong are the magnets. If they aren't strong enough the steel will not hold well (esp. because modern knives tend to be various flavors of stainless, with decidely variable magnetic affinity).
2: Spacing. If there isn't engouh room to get a hand around the handle of the knife you want, without touching any other knife, there is a strong possibility of one of them leaving the magnet. This is independent of the care/skill of the user. I have scars from this happening. The most recent nick I got was on Saturday. We have strong magnet bars, but we have too many knives on them, and not everyone is as attentive as I am to where they are replaced.
3: Continous, or spaced? The bars we keep the display knives on, at work, are discontnous magnets. Some of the smaller knives won't stay where they are put. This causes them to jump to where an actual magnet lives. This often means they are too close (if not in actual contact) to other knives.
4: Handling. It's really easy, with a strong magnet, to have the edge hit the bars solidly, and chip.
None of this makes magnets bad, per se, but it does mean they are low on my personal list of ways to store knives. <lj user =tenacious_snail has one, and I keep a really large butchering knife on it. It's a quirk of her knives that my monster is more stable than the, much smaller, knives she has on the strip.
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I have a mixed mind on magnets. There are a few things to consider when getting them.
1: How strong are the magnets. If they aren't strong enough the steel will not hold well (esp. because modern knives tend to be various flavors of stainless, with decidely variable magnetic affinity).
2: Spacing. If there isn't engouh room to get a hand around the handle of the knife you want, without touching any other knife, there is a strong possibility of one of them leaving the magnet. This is independent of the care/skill of the user. I have scars from this happening. The most recent nick I got was on Saturday. We have strong magnet bars, but we have too many knives on them, and not everyone is as attentive as I am to where they are replaced.
3: Continous, or spaced? The bars we keep the display knives on, at work, are discontnous magnets. Some of the smaller knives won't stay where they are put. This causes them to jump to where an actual magnet lives. This often means they are too close (if not in actual contact) to other knives.
4: Handling. It's really easy, with a strong magnet, to have the edge hit the bars solidly, and chip.
None of this makes magnets bad, per se, but it does mean they are low on my personal list of ways to store knives. <lj user =tenacious_snail has one, and I keep a really large butchering knife on it. It's a quirk of her knives that my monster is more stable than the, much smaller, knives she has on the strip.