A former employer once gave away a ****ton of neodymium magnets and I have used them in my mancave. Since the bigger ones are almost lethal (you can actually get seriously hurt when two of them slam together).
I have found that these magnets are too strong for their purpose. Sure, you can use smaller magnets which is nice but they do attract swarf a lot and it sticks to damn hard. When using old fridgedoor magnet strips you need a larger strip to stick a tool onto, but it's much easier to wipe of the swarf I have found.
regarding magnetization of tools: I have found that it only happens with tools that I "slide" of the magnet, ie, move the iron tool over the magnet. Tools that just hang there don't really get magnetized and I drop a spanner often enough that it get's "undone" anyway [bighmmm]
All in all, I have not found it to be the best solution for tools tbh but with the "soft" magnets at least it is manageable.
PS I returned to drawers myself eventually.
Cheers,
-P
