Magnetic muscle
Is there any doubt that magnets positively rule? I’ve never welded anything in my life, but found a great woodworking use for something familiar to metalworkers. And it’s no wonder…
Is there any doubt that magnets positively rule?
I’ve never welded anything in my life, but found a great woodworking use for something familiar to metalworkers. And it’s no wonder I like them: They’re based on my favorite shop helpers, magnets.
My dad (a professional welder in addition to being a woodworker) tipped me off to these. Like a lot of woodworkers, he hated setting his jointer fence – it’s heavy and ungainly floppy when loosened for adjustment. You have to juggle the fence while keeping it square until you can get it locked down.
But he had some welding magnets in his woodshop that he used for, well, welding. Designed as a hands-free way to hold metal at a steady angle while welding, it occurred to him he could use them for the same task with woodworking equipment. Just minus all the welding.
Welding magnets have no moving parts, but are shaped with rigid angles of 45, 90 and 135 degrees, depending on how they’re placed. That makes squaring a jointer fence a breeze. Just stick one side of the magnet against a loosened fence, and the other the table, and it instantly pulls the fence to an exact right angle and keeps it there till secured.
They work equally well aligning my 12" disc sander to a perfect 90 degrees, and by using just one edge of the magnet I can adjust the folding steel infeed/outfeed tables of my planer precisely flat. When done, I stick them to any metal tool cabinet.
The best part is that these things are dirt-cheap. A package of four for goes for $15-$20, and you’ll only buy them once because they last forever. And when you retire you can use them to stick your grandkids’ artwork to your refrigerator. Permanently.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.
