If you've worked on anything mechanical, especially motorcycles at all, this has happened to you, over and over again. There are ways to try to get around it - magnetic tipped screwdrivers that always seem to flip the screw sideways as you touch the hole it's supposed to go into, holding the fastener with a long-tipped set of needle-nose pliers, or my favorite: wrapping a piece of duct tape inside out around your finger, and sticking the fastener to it.
This is a much simpler - and easy to use solution: the magnetic finger glove!
I was somewhat skeptical when I first saw this. It's a small neoprene glove, made out of the same thing as Mechanix gloves. It stretches to fit tightly around any finger.
On the tip of the finger is a tiny magnet, sewn into the glove. Simple, but how effective can it be? Will it drop heavier fasteners? Will they stick?
I was actually extremely surprised at just how powerful this tiny magnet is. I picked up large bolts, nuts, screws, even a screwdriver with this magnet. It's more than capable of holding pretty much any fastener in place that you're working with.
I would love to show you this item in use on the bike - but by definition, you are normally using this to put a fastener into a deep, dark place inside the bike's engine - which is not very conducive for photographs. So instead I'll show you a demonstration of how it is used. You can slide your finger into the narrow spot, with the fastener stuck to the magnet as shown. You get the end of the fastener into the hole for which it is intended, then slide the tool in alongside, engage the fastener and tighten it in place. I even managed to successfully do this with a single hand while attempting to take a photograph - but the photo could not see anything with my finger and a screwdriver in the way.
Other uses? Its magnet is strong enough that it will pick up pretty much any ferrous (stee/iron) piece of metal, so any clamp, screw, nut, bolt you have managed to drop, that you can't reach with finger and thumb, you can now get simply by sticking your finger down, wiggling it around until it attracts the wayward item, and then withdrawing it. Its magnet is strong enough that it won't drop the item on the way out.
So I'm now converted from a skeptic to a real-world user. I love this thing! My only concern is the fabric over the magnet - I can see this wearing through to the magnet over time as it is used over and over again. These magnetic fingers are sold for $23 for a package of three on Amazon, and I can't really see using more than one at a time, so I suspect this may be the case.
I'm all for simple tools that make your job easier, and this is definitely one of them!
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