| Griot's Garage Magnetizer/Demagnetizer - Tool Of The Month
Some of you have mentioned many "Tools of the Month" are rather pricey for the average sometimes do-it-yourselfer, and we agree. It costs money to have a home shop. But it costs more money to pay a professional. In deference to our beloved readers, though, we've found a truly useful tool for less than ten bucks. It's even made in Germany, which is nothing short of amazing. You might ask, though, why would you want to magnetize a thing and then demagnetize it? Let's consider that.
It's very likely anything dropped while working will either 1) land on the floor and roll to the exact center underneath the car, or 2) become lodged in a location completely inaccessible by hand and probably hidden from view. This phenomenon was likely discovered shortly after the invention of the first automobile, a steam-powered contraption finished about 1769 by French inventor Nicolas Cugnot, which was no doubt a cumbersome apparatus to say the least. Nowadays it seems this phenomenon has virtually become a law of nature.
In the intervening time between then and now, various implements have been devised to help us pick up dropped stuff. My shop has an assortment of mechanical fingers and telescopic magnets, for example. Mechanical "fingers" are thin metal bands that stick out of a corrugated metal tube with a spring loaded plunger at the opposite end to actuate the bands, or fingers. They work quite well-and not just for scaring cats. Drop an aluminum spring into a carburetor, for example, and you'll be needing the assistance of mechanical fingers. Same with telescopic magnets and ferrous metal parts.
However, mechanical fingers lack any appreciable level of dexterity-certainly nothing like the flesh-and-bone kind. And telescopic magnets are often too strong for some scenarios: You go to pick something up and the magnet latches on to some other metallic bit on the way to the thing you dropped. It can be very frustrating, especially since you're already frustrated over dropping some unique little part into some completely inaccessible place. A strong magnet is great if you drop something heavy, like a big bracket or a large socket. But smaller bits require smaller magnets.
Enter the Griot's Garage Magnetizer/Demagnetizer, part number 66023, made by Wiha in Germany. For less than what you spent on lunch today, this nifty little guy will magnetize your favorite long screwdriver just enough to retrieve that 5mm wave washer from inside the pedal box on a Porsche 914 without clanging on to the pedal linkage. It's precision extraction. Just pass the screwdriver through the "magnetize" port a few times. If you want more magnetism, pass it through a few more times. Then you can demagnetize the screwdriver if you want. Demagnetization-that's the part I'm good at. Too bad this thing doesn't work to attract the opposite sex.
The Griot's Garage Magnetizer/Demagnetizer has been in my toolbox for a good ten years or so, and it still works like new. It also has a certain, "Hey, check this out!" factor amongst my gearhead friends, many of whom have ordered one for themselves. This is one low-buck tool that is really useful, and therefore earns the "Tool of the Month" seal of approval.