There is no need to be concerned about that. At 60 lbs the needle will point straight to the magnet if its only a few feet away. My 12 lbs magnet can deflect a compass needle up to 15 degrees at about 3 feet.

It´s not that bad. Firstly most metals aren´t magnetic anyway. Secondly the magnetic field decreases rapidly with distance. If you keep a distance of about 3 feet from iron objects you may be pretty save.
A 60 lbs test magnet may well be too strong for EDC. It would not be to big or heavy though. They are available at the size of a matchbox and a weight of about 60 g. Those magnets are usually underestimated by most people who haven´t handled them before. A coworker destroyed a pair of 20 lbs magnets by dropping one on the table about 1 1/2 feet away from the other. Both were shattered on impact.

A magnet will only work to pickup your keys if the key ring is iron or steel.


With very few exceptions all keys are non ferrous metals. They are non magnetic and (despite what you see on TV when some spy or thief is copying a key in a movie,) they don’t generate any sparks when cut or scraped over something.


Stainless steel is also non magnetic, I recently bought a small ax to go with my Thermette and the package says it’s stainless steel. But a magnet sticks to it very well.

Some stainless steel has a little regular steel in it and a magnet will have a very small attraction to it, not enough to stick, but this ax draws a magnet to it like a kid is to a mud puddle.

Most key rings are made of steel. If you intend to use a magnet to find or retrieve the key.
It´s not quite true that stainless steel is non magnetic. It depends mostly on the portions of nickel and cobalt. There is austenitic steel which is non magnetic and ferritic steel which is magnetic. Only ferritic steel can be hardened because hardening depends on a change in crystal structure of steel during quenching. Austenitic steel does not have this change in crystal structure. That is why cutting tools and cutlery usually are magnetic.

I did that several times with the magnetic latch on an old cell phone case. All too easy to do. Sigh.

Ken K.

I carry one of those extendable magnetic pick ups. Rated at 10 pounds. More than enough for a set of keys. To give it more reach I removed the pen clip and epoxied a screweye to attach a string if needed.

i keep looking at the wedding ring magnets(about 2/3 down the page) and thinking how i could be worshiped as a god at a fantasy convention.

Magnets have a lot of uses. I don't keep one in my kit mainly because it could interfere with the compass or electronics.

A trick for getting a magnet on a string through a steel grate or other tight spot surrounded by magnetic metal is to roll up a piece of cardboard or stiff paper to form a tube. You pull the string through and pull the magnet up tight. Then you use the tube to push the magnet well past the metal. Once free the magnet can be allowed to drop free of the tube. The stiff tube also allows finer control over the string, in case the hole you went in through isn't exactly plumb over your target, as you fish for your lost keys.

I do carry a set of neodymium magnets in my EDC kit, but in form of ten matching pairs of magnetic jewelry clasps:



They are just 6x6mm x 1.0 gram each, and quite strong (almost 2 pounds for a pair). This particular shape is very versatile. You can attach a string or electric wire to them like this:



I'm using them not only for picking up metal objects, but on a daily basis for making quick and very reliable electrical connections to batteries (AAA/AA/C/D/button cells) and between batteries in series when improvising electrical circuits. They are also good at keeping small metal objects (like screws and nuts) together in a loose container such as a pocket. I'm using them also as mounting points in my vest to hang small zip-lock bags with the components of my distributed EDC kit (one magnet is sewn to the fabric near the top of the pocket, and another one taped inside of the zip-lock bag) which prevents accumulation of items on the bottom of a deep pocket. And similarly - for the automatic closures in my pockets (I'm wearing the ScotteVest Tactical System , which is utilizing magnetic closures already, but not on all of its 47+ pockets ). Using thin wire it is possible to make an electric motor, or dynamo generator with them (which will easily power a small radio or LED light)...
And finally, each of these magnets is precisely 1 gram. So, I can use them as weights for improvised scale.

This would appear to be a very viable means of fabricating a break-a-way connection on a lanyard or survival necklace.

Jim