Magnetic rack and steel knife issue

Someone gifted me a chef’s knife, and it seems like a good value (in looking for info on it, you get mostly Amazon links revealing the price–about $40):

The odd thing is it won’t adhere solidly to my magnetic knife bar. Maybe something to do with the “Damascus” layering and patterning? It’s not a flat-stamped knife like the Victorinox Fibrox, but it also lacks the heft I’d expect from a forged knife. Whatever–it’s the magnet thing I find puzzling.

So it is magnetic, but not strong enough to be held on the magnetic bar, right? VG-10 steel should be magetic, so maybe the rest of the steel. These knives are not forged.

Yes, there is magnetic attraction, but too weak to hold the knife it place–it slides slowly downward.

I don’t have a solution but some thoughts.

1 - you can’t make the knife more magnetic so that path is a dead end.

2 - you could add a second magnetic bar but seems like a hassle (it would be nice if they sold those bars with a magnetic strength rating but they don’t)

3 - everyone I’ve known with those bars, hangs the knives with the handles down. Why? Could you hang yours with the handle up so that as it slid down the handle would eventually rest on the top of the bar preventing it from sliding further?

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The stainless steel makes it non-magnetic. some SS is & some is not (very).

Isn’t vg10 mostly stainless? Nothing to do with the magnetism, but I wonder if that’s truly a damascus blade at that price

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vg10 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VG-10

Damascus Steel used to refer to steel from a certain place & forged in a particular way. Now it has a more generic meaning referring to any forged steel with multiple folds which create the pattern in the steel. So - it’s can be kind of hard to know exactly what you’re getting.

Oh no, big problem. Think scam. This is one of many fake Japanese knives flooding the market–often sold through Amazon. Almost all of the knives are made in one place in China. There is no tradition of craftsmanship there like in Japan, Germany, or even Taiwan.

You can find all of the knives listed on Alibaba for purchase in bulk. You can probably track this knife down there and determine wholesale offering price. You’ll be amazed! If you think you could sell one to a friend for $40, buy a thousand, start your own label–you could make a fortune!

I have about 14 kitchen knives, held in place by magnets. No slippage–none held on too strong.

Ray

Like others have stated, it is most likely not true Damascus, but you don’t really need Damascus anyway. VG-10 is a good steel. The knife being magnetic or not is not directly relevant to its cutting performance – since your edge is simply about the VG-10 core. I would keep using it for awhile. Let’s its performance be the final judge.

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I think we can safely say it’s not true Damascus at that price point

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Reading between the lines here, but can we assume you did NOT get the magnet holder described in the link you posted?

I wonder if maybe it is “super-magnetized” so as to deflect any potential negative reviews on exactly the problem you are experiencing.

It’s an attractive knife at a really low price, but as Chemtrails notes above, its functionality should determine whether it’s worth finding a storage solution or if it should be gifted to some other sucker, er…I mean dear dear friend.

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Absolutely agree. Most knives out there are not true Damascus anyway. Most of Shun’s, Miyabi (Heckels) are not real Damascus. Bob Kramer and Davy Thomas make some nice real Damascus knives.
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For Sure

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I did get a magnetic cylinder–odd little thing–which also could not hold the knife on a vertical.

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Oh. Some of those tends to be weaker than the magnetic strips. My recommendation is that you should test out of knife first. If the knife is a good knife, then it is a keeper. If it is a horrible knife, then you may not care for it. Based on that, you can decide how you want to store it. You can have a separate storage method for it. Or strengthen the magnet cylinder with additional magnets, but that may harm the appearance you are going after.

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My 4 most used knives are on a non used cutting board. Drives my wife crazy that they are out but she doesn’t cook so it really doesn’t matter. She tolerates it because she knows dinner is usually far better and cheaper than what we can eat out. I do the shopping, cooking and most of the clean up. She deals

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Lol! How can she lives without you?! Lucky wife!!

He buys, she cooks and both of us clean chez N. As for keeping knives, I don’t like magnet but a knife block to slip the knives exactly like this. Inside the aluminum holder, there are some plastic sleeves closely fit to hold the knives. Mine I put only knives, and they need to be in the same order all the time. After numerous complaints, now he knows more or less the right order.

The most precious Japanese knives are kept in their original boxes inside the drawers.

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High five.

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Magnets in the kitchen… Why no? The thing is that different types of magnets, including electronic ones use in various areas of people life. For instance, after I started to work with https://dimetm.com/ , I found so many using of them. Including even buidling area. At the moment I am looking for more applications.

The ‘why’ is likely so that, if it slips off, it won’t land on the tip or blade.