Rare Earth Magnets

We learned about these magnets at our brother's wedding. They were used in the corsages and boutennieres in place of pins that stick through clothing. We've come across them again now: this time in the home...

The tiny rare earth magnets can actually be embedded in cabinet doors and will hold doors shut invisibly, in place of latches and catches. We're excited to think of all the possibilities for using these as invisible fasteners in home projects.

Comments (11)

Just don't let anyone swallow two of them.

Yes, a very dangerous thing to have loose around the house if you have any small kids around who might swallow two or more of them.

what happens if you swallow 2 of them?

if you swallow two magnets they can rip through your intestinal walls to get to each other (because their attraction is strong enough)

on a side note, a friend and i used these to hang posters and other unframed artwork in an exhibition we organized. we put nails into the wall under the corners of each peice and then used the magnets, placed on top, to hold the artwork in place. it worked wonderfully and didn't leave any damage to the paper like pins or tacks would have.

Great for finding studs within walls.

They're also in your computer hard drives.

These are what you want after you use for your metalic painted wall. Regular magnets sometimes aren't strong enough.

where do you get them -- any hardware store?

embaltimore, love that display idea!

One source:

http://www.rare-earth-magnets.com/

...they have a pretty wide range of shapes, sizes & strengths. I bought for them, for my metal-painted wall (as noted above by Renngrrl).

Argh, I forgot to include the other people I've bought from:

http://www.kjmagnetics.com/categories.asp

The K&J people have some terrifyingly strong magnets (as in capable of breaking bones if you come between them & the thing they want to stick to).

They've got one that weighs 26oz, and has a pull force of 550lbs. Yikes.