Making a Magnetic Knife Block From Pallet Wood

The other day my Mom asked me if I could make her a magnetic knife block for the kitchen. I thought it would be cool to make one out of all recycled materials. For this, I used a piece of pallet wood and magnets from computer hard drives. While I added resin inlays and added other details, this is a basic frame to follow to make a magnetic knife block. Below is a basic list of supplies, power tools could be substituted for hand tools if needed.

Wood

Magnets

Drill

Router (or hammer and chisel)

Sander (or paper)

2 Part Epoxy/ CA glue/ Hot glue

Screws

Food sa

I knew I had to work around only having 4 magnets and a short usable piece of wood I wanted to use. In your situation, you might want to work around how many knives you use daily, lucky my Mom mainly uses 3 knives religiously. When planning where to cut out the channel for the magnets it's important to leave space for screws on either side and the walls of the block itself.

This should be very close to the final shape you are looking for before carving out the cavity for magnets. In my case because I was using pallet wood I had to fill some nail and knot holes. The touch of white resin gave a nice touch to the wild grain pattern. After sanding back the resin to the rough finish I was ready to carve out the back cavity for the magnets.

For this step the key is to go SLOW! I used a router for this but you could also use a hammer and chisel or even a knife if you really want to. As you remove material to fit the magnets keep putting in magnets, checking if the retention is to your liking. The slower you go the better you are able to lock in on the retention you want. This is also where I drill the mounting holes.

The magnets behind the wood have to be held in place. By placing the block face side down on a thick metal surface the magnets are able to stay in place facing the correct direction. I used 2 part epoxy resin to set the magnets so they will not shift. You could also get away with using super glue or even hot glue but I wouldn't trust hot glue. So I filled the back cavity ensuring that the magnets won't shift.

I again used a router to chamfer the edges for a cleaner look. Using an orbital sander I smoothed the block out to 400 grit. Finally coating with a food-safe finish. (Mineral oil, butcher block finish, etc.)

My kitchen backsplash is melamine so I didn't have to worry about studs. Although I used a stud finder to see if there were live wires behind the wall. I used brass trim screws to attach it to the wall and it was complete. Not bad for a bunch of junk! The figure on that wood is just wild! And to think that was off of a pallet. I want to thank you all for tagging along if you did!

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