Knife Block - Level Up!

Double the capacity of your knife block and accommodate all those extra knives you've accumulated over the years!

This instructable shows you how to add magnets to the surface of a knife block to add capacity without taking up more counter space.

You will need:

An overcrowded knife block. Should have side panels thick enough to accommodate the magnets you have sourced.

Neodymium magnets. The ones I am using are 25mm diameter and 4.5mm thick. They are countersunk in the middle with a 5mm hole. If you don't want to screw the magnets in place, you can glue them, or a press fit can also work. The wood filler will also help keep them in place. You will need two of these for each area to hold a knife. I used 10 in total (space for 5 more knives). Please be careful when handling these, they are extremely strong and can hurt if they snap together.

Drill bits. You need a pilot bit of 1mm-2mm and a bit that fits the diameter of your magnet. The best option here is a forstener bit (see pic). These can make nice clean shallow holes in timber (or in this case engineered bamboo) even with a hand held drill. If you don't have one the right size, a spade bit will also do the trick, but these tend to widen the pilot hole a lot, which means securing the magnet with a wood screw may not work.

Wood filler: I am using a water based paste similar to this timber mate product, but any will do including two-part.

Finishing material: You will need sandpaper, sanding block (an electric sander will help), and some kind of finishing oil. I am using Tung oil, but I would probably use Danish Oil if I could get hold of any.

Work out which knives you want to locate where and where to place your magnets. In my case these were marked at 50mm centres between the knives and 80mm between centres along the knife blade.

After marking drill a pilot hole and then use the forstener bit to drill a shallow hole to the depth of your magnet plus about 1mm (in order to be able to cover with the filler).

Place your magnets in each hole and use a wood screw to secure your magnets in place. If you are not using these countersunk magnets, you should try to ensure that all the magnets are 'pointing' the same way i.e. with N or S facing outwards.

Once all the magnets are in place, you can fill around them using the wood filler. This is likely to need two or three applications to compensate for the shrinkage in the larger cavities. Sand flat in between applications (with an electric sander if possible).

Finish the entire block with a hand sanding block and fine sandpaper.

Oil the block with your preferred oil a couple of times and allow to dry.

Apply knives.

Stand back and admire your masterpiece.