Flutterby™! : Magnetic Wall Paint 2002-10-27 18:34:59+00

Magnetic Wall Paint

2002-10-27 18:34:59+00 by Dan Lyke 25 comments

Via Tastes Like Chicken: If your refrigerator is like ours it's getting pretty crowded with comic clippings and magnetic poetry words. Of course, it's probably not exactly like ours because the phrase "fondle luscious object-oriented quaternion" probably doesn't appear on yours. But if you're redecorating, you might want to consider magnetic wall paint to give yourself that much more room.

A couple of notions come immediately to mind:
Can it "shield" the radio frequency output of computers or does it disrupt them?
Can it be used as an "ad lib" antenna? Or can it conduct at all?
Can it be creatively used as a moving magnet as Kiki uses water to transport fire?

If I remember properly how they described it, it's a suspension of ferrous particles possessing no inherent magnetic polarization. It's just metal for magnets to stick to, not a source of magnetism itself. I doubt it's broadly conductive, as the particles are most likely insulated from each other.

I had a cool sci-geek moment on the subway this weekend watching paperclips someone had dropped on the floor stand at attention when the train operated it's coils to accelerate or decelerate. Over the course of several stops the clips migrated toward a common point, but it seems the alignment of their charges kept them from meeting. This week I'll see if two looped clips will align vertically.

Magnetic paint is simply paint that contains millions of microscopic iron particles that work together to form a steel like surface on any wall. This steel like surface attracts magnets just like your refrigerator door attracts magnets. It usually takes two or three coats of magnetic paint to attract magnets strongly enough to make them stick to the wall. After you get the wall as strongly attractive as you want it, you can finish with a coat or two of your favorite color latex paint. No one will even know you have magnetic paint on your walls, except for the items displayed on the wall magnetically.

Magnetic paint does not attract heavy steel magnets well enough to expect them to stick like they stick to real steel. Magnetic paint is usually used with sheet magnets. Sheet magnets are sheets of rubber or plastic with millions of the same iron particles embedded in the sheet and then run through an electromagnetic field that magnetizes the iron particles and makes the sheet into a magnet.

Sheet magnets are very strong for their weight because they have a very large surface area in contact with the steel mounting surface. Heavier stronger steel magnets won't stick to magnetic paint because they are heavy and have a small surface area to make contact with the paint. The magnetic paint has far less steel to it than a refrigerator door that is solid steel. Of course any magnets will stick better to solid steel.

You can find magnetic paint on many sites on the internet. The prices are the main difference. Most of the compaines selling the paint are middle men selling paint that some other company makes and sells them. They keep marking up the price every time another company gets involved. The best price I found was with a company called Magically Magnetic Inc. They can be found on the web at www.lyt.com and they have very good prices, half that of the other guys. They even pay the freight on orders over $25 which saves a lot over the other stores that sell the other brands and tack on freight and handling charges. Another nice thing about the magnetic paint you get at www.lyt.com is that it is made as an additive you mix with your own paint you buy locally. That way, there is far less freight to pay. You also get enough additive from them to mix with a full can of paint. The additive to mix with a gallon is a full quart can. That means you get way more than a full gallon of magnetic paint when you have it mixed.

Once you have painted your walls, you can purchase magnetic frames for photos, drawings or the kid's art work. The site that sells the paint has the frames too. They also sell sheet magnet with self-adhesive backing for you to put on the back of anything to make it a wall decoration. It's really easy to use.

Not suprisingly, Mr. Brady works for the company he cites. Jeez.... times must be hard when you're scouring google for references to "magnetic paint" and trying to drum up business by pretending to be a satisfied customer.

Yeah, but I realized that as soon as I started reading, and realized that if he's willing to add that much to the conversation, and there is a little bit of content there, then he's going about advertising in the way that I'd like to see advertising done.

Far better that he attach his message to places where people are likely to read it because they're interested in the product, even if he misrepresents his relationship to the company by a little bit, than that, say, I get unsolicited email relating to it.

Yep, if he'd simply added that he was associated it would have been nice. Butit IS a very informative and well written post. We've had other company reps visit and post to Flutterby as we've discussed their stuff (good and bad), sometime it adds a lot of depth and perspective.

Exactly how did I mislead anyone? Did I hide my identity? I supplied information to people who seemed to be interested in that information. I supplied truthful answers to questions that had been asked. This is my subject. If you discuss it and I see your discussion, I'll probably drop in with my two cents worth.

If I see people stumbling around misinforming the public about magnetic paint, telling them that the paint will harm their children, pets, computers or cash registers, I'll let them know the truth. The site I spoke of in my post happens to be the most informative site on the internet dealing with this subject. Should I have kept it a secret? There is a lot more good information there that might help if people wish to read it. That site again was www.lyt.com It's a commercial site for sure, very well put together with a lot of really good products. Does that make it bad in some way?

You were insufficiently forthcoming with your financial interest in attracting attention to the site. "But it's the best" is no defense against that. If you really have that much faith in the superiority of your site and company, then nothing's to be lost by identifying the relationship between it and you.

They can be found on the web..... they have very good prices, half that of the other guys.

The use of the pronoun "they" in those sentences implies you are not involved with the company. The use of "I" or "we" would indicate you are involved with the company. It's a poor, transparent attempt to obfuscate your relationship with the company.

Your misrepresentation of yourself naturally causes one to question what else about your website and the company might be misrepresented.

Nit picking over pronouns is certainly a waste of time. Have you ever seen or heard an advertisement where the announcer mentions a company and says "we", sounding like he has some ownership in the company? He is mearly being paid to read their ad. Do you actually believe he owns the company?

On the other hand, if you were describing something about the place where you worked, wouldn't you be likely to use words like they? ( They cloase up to early, they turn the air conditioning down too low, they don't pay me enough) I was describing the web site in the third person, a perfectly legitimate way to speak. Besides, I was talking about magnetic paint and a web site where this product could be bought. I wasn't talking about me or my position at work.

Are you suggesting that if I have some financial attachment to something that my word is to be automatically mistrusted? Fine, don't believe me. Ivestigate for yourself. See if my prices are not the best. By best I mean the cheapest for quality gained. See if my shipping is not the best. By best I mean free on orders of $25 or more. See if my magnetic paint is not the best. By best I mean the strongest magnetic attraction, easiest to use and lasting strength.

There is nothing to be gained by automatically hating and mistrusting anyone with a business and a product to sell. After all, everything you have and ever will have in this world is supplied by people with something to sell.

I'm an expert in the field of magnetics. Would you feel better getting your information on magnetics from a milkman or a banker? If you had a problem with your car's breaks, don't you take it to a mechanic. Why do you trust him? Doesn't he have a product to sell? Doesn't he have a financial attachment to the work he does? Doesn't he stand to make money by working on your car?

Let's say you were discussing break problems on your discussion group and a mechanic came along with his comments. Would he only be welcomed and believed if he announced where he worked and how much stock he owned in his company prior to making his comments?

There seems to be a double standard at work here. It seems like the old thought that you can trust a man who gets paid by the hour but the guy at the top, the one who owns the company is a fat cat and just naturally dishonest. After all, he's in it for the money. And why is the hourly employee in it if not for the money? Your entire problem with me is that you think because I have a business I must be a lier and a cheat. That's pretty short sighted of you.

Tom, you were upfront in the post in Vila's forum and not in the post here. That's the facts. We both know that. Period.

I have no knowledge of your position in the company. You might be an hourly employee or the owner, I don't know. Given that, your assumption that I am somehow prejudiced against "fat cats" doesn't make sense. I had no knowledge you were in the company's management until you brought this up.

I had no knowledge of your expertise in magnetics. Why? You didn't mention that until now. Though you are an expert in magnetics, you've not addressed my early questions about using the paint as a moving magnetic mass, an ad lib antenna, or as a radio frequency shield.

Clearly, your primary purpose in commenting was to advertise your website, not to provide information. I, personally, resent your lack of willingness to simply own up to that. It's not a terrible thing to want to advertise. As Dan and meuon suggest, your approach is better than spam, even if it is a bit disingenuous.

A customer generally has no direct financial interest in the success of a company, so they have much less incentive to downplay the negatives, or hype the positives of a company's products. Therefore, testimonials that come from satisfied customers have greater credibility than testimonials that come from employees or owners. In your initial post, although you did not present false information (as far as I know), you omitted information that would've made it clear that you were an employee/owner, rather than a satisfied customer. Whether you intended to do so or not, many people (including me) consider that a form of deception.

Rather than admitting error, and apologizing, you've compounded the error by implying that we hate/mistrust anyone with a business to sell. Do you realize that many of the people who post to flutterby either currently own, or have owned or operated their own businesses?

Flutterby is a fairly old, popular site. Now, instead of finding thanks to an industry insider for a helpful post, whoever does a google search for "magnetic paint" or "Tom Brady" or "www.lyt.com" will find a discussion of what some perceive to be your ethically questionable advertising practices.

#Comment made: 2003-06-25 00:03:03.88477+00 by: Shawn [edit history]

if you were describing something about the place where you worked, wouldn't you be likely to use words like they?

Not unless I was complaining about them. I have always used the term "we" when expounding the positive aspects of the work performed by any company I was a part of.

Your initial post was informative, although I did chuckle at your (apparently) obvious attempt to present yourself as an unbiased source. I'm not currently in the market for magnetic paint, but I can tell you if I ever am you are rapidly reducing your chances that I will ever use your site. Not because you have a financial stake in it but because you've spent your successive postings whining and complaining about the observed fact that you did not dislose your bias.

Lesson for next time: If you want to retain the possibility of future customers like myself I would advise a response more along the lines of "Oops, sorry about that. It was not my intention to mislead anybody. Yes, I'm associated with the website I mentioned but I really believe we have the best product out there."

I certainly can't speak for topspin, but I'd be willing to bet that he'd be happy to consider becoming a customer after such a friendly, welcoming, honest response. As he says, it has nothing to do with your financial stake and everything to do with how you've presented yourself - both initially and in your responses.

I never said I was a satisfied customer or a customer of any kind. I also never said that I wasn't connected with the site I spoke of. I mearly spoke the truth about what I new about magnetic paint and where it can be found on the web. The information I offered was as true comming from any one from any where. It made no difference where I work.

The fact that I made no mention about your comment about using magnetic paint as a radio frequency sheild or a moving mass as a radio antenna is because I had no information on the subject to add. It would be pretty stupid for me to comment on something I have never heard of. Those questions were more in the line of science fiction than actual questions.

I did my best to supply truthful information where I thought it would be appreciated. My words were not piped into your home as spam. They weren't even mailed to you through the US Post Office to clog your mail box. If you aren't interested in learning about magnetic paint, just don't read my post.

One quart of magnetic wall paint from www.lyt.com - $15.oo... Plus shipping and handling - $24.00 total. One quart of magnetic wall paint from any nationwide TrueValue Hardware Store -$19.99 plus your local tax. TrueValue.com has a store locator. Chances are very good you've got a store near you. Don't know about anyone else, but I'll go there if I do decide to pick up some of this stuff. At least there the sales associates introduce themselves as such.

As you know, my name is Tom Brady. I'm sorry, but you have me at a disadvantage, you've never mentioned any of your names.

As I said before, It doesn't matter which magnetic paint you use, it will work about the same. It's all made of the same ingredients and will work just fine. Some paints have more or less iron particles than another, but all will hold sheet magnets on a wall. True Value's magnetic paint is as good as any one elses. If all you want is a quart of magnetic paint you might as well shop at True Value. But if you want anything else, like more than a quart of paint, shop around, prices change drastically.

At www.lyt.com you will only be charged a $5 handling charge on orders smaller than $25. We pay the freight on EVERY order in the continental US. At www.lyt.com a gallons worth of additive is a full quart can weighing eight pounds. That quart can of additive is added to a full gallon of primer/sealer paint that you buy locally, on sale for $10 plus sales tax. Our additive will cost you $40, no tax and no shipping. That's a total of no more than $51 for what is actually more than a gallon of magnetic paint. At any True Value store, a gallon of magnetic paint would cost you over $74 with local sales tax. That's $23 more at your True Value. Do you want to throw away $23?

If you wanted three gallons of magnetic paint using our Magically Magnetic additive, it would cost you a total of $100 for the additive at our friendly bulk price and about $32 for the primer/sealer paint including sales tax at your local store. I would shop at Lowes or Home Depot for a good price if I were you. That's a total of $132 for again, more than three gallons of magnetic paint from www.lyt.com.

Three gallons of magnetic paint at your local True Value would cost you more than $222 with local sales tax added. You'll be spending $90 more than you need to at True Value. It sorta makes you wonder where they got that name.

Now that you have your magnetic wall, you are going to want to decorate magnetically on it. I hope you're not planning on purchasing any magnetic photo frames at True Value. The most popular size is the 4" x 6" pocket style frame. True Value's magnetic frame is a direct knock off copy of the Lytle Original Soft Pocket frame we sell, but it has a smaller magnet on the back. The Lytle frame has a magnet that covers 100% of the back of the frame.

True Value's 4" x 6" pocket style frames cost $4.99 for a pack of two. Our Lytle Original Soft Pocket frames in 4" x 6" size are only $1.50 each or two for $3. That's a savings from us of a dollar per frame. If you want more frames or want to get together with friends and order off of our friendly bulk price order-form, fifty or more of the popular 4" x 6" frames would cost you only $1.25 each for an additional savings of $.25 per frame over the True Value store. Not to mention, you only pay sales tax at www.lyt.com if you are having your frames shipped to an address in Pennsylvania. So, again, that's a savings of more than $62.50 on fifty 4" x 6" soft pocket magnetic frames just by shopping at www.lyt.com.

One other thing, www.lyt.com includes one 4" x 6" frame FREE with every $15 worth of product purchased, every day of the week, all year long, every year and we always pay the freight. So if you and your friends got together and purchased fifty 4" x 6" magnetic frames, you would also get four more frames free of charge plus some other small gifts that we always include on every order.

Here's another little tip just for you Susan. If you really want to do your magnetic painting on the cheap, every Lowes and Home Depot has a paint department where they mix custom color paints for their customers. People often get paints mixed, buy the paint and then bring it back for a refund. Because they don't want to lose business by ticking off their customers, they take it back. They can't eat it and they can't sell it at a reduced price as the color it is when Joe Blow brought it back or Mr. Blow would come back and buy it again at the reduced price. So, they tint it with black and sell it as gray paint. No one wants gray paint much so they have to sell it really cheap. Try $1 per gallon and $5 for a five gallon bucket. We have tried this cheap gray latex paint with our additive and it works great. Talk about cheap magnetic paint. The grey paint even covers up easily with your finish coat of your favorite latex paint.

We advise against using latex paint because mixing anything with water in it with iron particles might not be a very good idea, but to this day, we have seen no ill effects with this cheap grey paint. We suggest using a white oil based primer/sealer paint because it is a very strong paint, it's more chip resistant than latex, dries harder, is thicker than latex and holds the magnetic additive in suspension better, goes on over any kind of paint and seals the iron particles better than latex paint and can be painted over with any kind of paint. When you're advising people on what to use on their walls, you have to be very careful.

#Comment made: 2003-06-26 15:22:06.80967+00 by: susan [edit history]

You've implied that the people who post here are biased against businessmen and the working class, dismissed them as short-sighted, and belittled their legitimate questions. Then when you get called on it, you cry unfair... but not before you toss in another sales pitch.

You may be the best bargain out there Tom, but I'd still be doing my shopping elsewhere. There are enough places with reasonable prices to choose from to suit me. You see, I'm quite willing to pay more for something in order to support a company or brand that I like. Or in this case, to not support a company I don't.

No don't go jumping to silly conclusions. My name is at the heading of each of my posts.

An interesting comment to make, since you seem to be demonstrating a complete lack of understanding for the concept.

#Comment made: 2003-06-27 12:44:43.773536+00 by: topspin [edit history]

Though cost prohibitive for large displays.... and to bring this back to the realm of discussion..... one can buy ferrofluids, which would be better suited for "art" uses than magnetic paint. Though it would seem a small display would be doable.

Scroll down to ferrofluids on this page for some interesting info. As a matter of fact, the whole site is pretty informative about odd uses for magnets and supplies.

The film also looks interesting. By randomly or not so randomly varying the magnetic field beneath it and/or beneath some of the fluid, one could vary the shapes on the film, allow the fluid to flow down a surface, stop halfway, etc..... or create a changing canvas with the film.

Yo, Tom, being an expert in magnetics, have you ever played with this stuff or do you have any thoughts about it? This is more along the lines I had in mind originally.

I think I need to play with switching larger currents so that we can do interesting stuff with this. Luckily, my next few weeks at work should involve... switching currents to drive electromagnets from a microcontroller.

Susan, What I said was, "There seems to be a double standard at work here. It seems like the old thought that you can trust a man who gets paid by the hour but the guy at the top, the one who owns the company is a fat cat and just naturally dishonest. After all, he's in it for the money. And why is the hourly employee in it if not for the money? Your entire problem with me is that you think because I have a business I must be a lier and a cheat. That's pretty short sighted of you."

Read it again so you will understand what I was saying. I was saying that some of the people who have posted their thoughts on this site dealing with my posting seem to be biased against businessmen, not the working class. What I said was that you only seem to trust the working class, if that is what you want to call them, and that I thought that was short sighted of them.

I never belittled anyone's questions. I said that some of one person's comments were more in the line of science fiction. Is that belittling? I don't see how. And I never said anything was unfair. Nothing in this world is fair.

And what is wrong with making a sales pitch? You made your little sales pitch for True Value stores. I guess the difference between my sales pitch and yours is that mine was a good natured offer of goods and service. Your's was a meen spirited attack against me, a person you don't even know and my business, for no other reason than I made a sales pitch. I should be shot! How could I have ever done such a thing?

I really don't understand the venom in your posts. I have never been in this site before, does this sort of thing go on all the time? Are you on a perpetual search and destroy mission here? Or again, is it just business people you attack? It sure doesn't make a visitor feel very welcome. You might want to re-think your policy.

It's been fun bantering with you but I must go. I have other business to attend to. We will be giving away free magnetic photo frames soon at www.lyt.com and I have to get ready. All through the month of July 2003, if you would like a free sample Lytle magnetic pocket style photo frame (a $1.25 value), just send a self-addrerssed regular business size, stamped envelope with $.60 return postage and we will send you a free sample frame. Susan, I hope you will take us up on this offer.

We also offer free magnetic paint sample swatches together with a piece of sheet magnet so you can perform your own test to see how our magnetic paint works. For the free paint swatch, send a self-addressed regular business size, stamped envelope with $.60 return postage. Send your request to: Magically Magnetic Frame Sample, or Magically Magnetic Paint Sample, P. O. Box 219, Saxonburg, PA 16056. One request per household please.

Thank you all for the opportunity to speak freely about our products and have a little fun. I do think I was able to deliver some good helpful information between the lines. Sorry if I got a bit carried away, but this information is very important to me. Not just because I stand to make a little profit and go on eating, but because I believe very strongly in what I am doing and the products I am selling.

#Comment Re: Magnetic Wall Paint made: 2003-08-10 05:05:55.049582+00 by: dana

hmm, it is midnight in kansas. I have six kids, a full time job, and I am reading this silly site. go figure. Well Tom, I think you won. I am planning on painting one wall of my son's room. After reading the entire debate....why I am not sure......I do think you know what you are talking about and I am going to buy my paint from you. Just so that everyone knows, I do not have interest in the company, I do not know Tom....His argument on the prices just won me over. I want a good deal at an affordable price. And, if I mix his magnet stuff in my own paint, doesnt that mean that I have to paint my wall less times? that eliminates an entire step. hey, if I am understanding the process correctly, that speaks loudly to this busy mom. Dana