I mentioned a while ago that I’ve experimented with using magnets for closures, with limited and varied success. The problem was the tiny magnets I’ve tried are very strong, but once the bookcloth and/or paper are placed on top, they aren’t really strong enough. Recently I got some more, slightly bigger, magnets from my favorite source. Oh my.
The first difference was after I unpacked them. The stack of square ones (1/2″ x 1/2″ x 1/16″) held together with such force I couldn’t pull them apart! I do realize that I don’t have the strongest hands, but still… it took surprising effort. The trick was to carefully slide them with as much strength as I could manage (and even then I somehow got my hand in the way and got pinched hard enough to start dripping blood…yike).
Then I discovered that if you leave one sitting too close to the rest of the stack–say, within a foot or two of it–it will, after a while, begin to move and will SLAM into the stack…with enough force to smash the attracted magnet into shards. Pretty trippy.
I’m thinking these babies will have enough force under bookcloth and paper to work (hopefully not too well), although I have yet to try them out in anything. I’ll let you know when I do. I should add that the company I got these from recommends this size for brochure closures.
Those with pacemakers and metal implants should probably steer clear…
Wow, this sounds like dangerously strong magnets! I am already waiting to read about your permanently magnetically closed books :-)
Heh heh heh…Or perhaps my permanently trapped fingers sandwiched between two magnets? Ha ha ha…It will be interesting to see what comes up. I now feel obligated to try them out so I can report back (and also reassure everyone that I haven't smashed more body parts, nor permanently sealed a book closed via magnetic bond. This will be entertaining, no doubt.