I recently acquired a very old (vintage) Adams “Magical Block.” Its magnet is extremely feeble; it can barely lift off the penny shell from its dime — which then all too easily dislodges and drops off, with merely the slightest shake or jiggle.

We’re talking utterly minimal, barely feather-level magnetic strength here. A soft gentle breath or breeze would dislodge the shell coin from the underside of the block.

(I do have other sets, so by way of direct comparison I know that this particular one is very unusually weak.)

Is there any simple, practical way of re-charging or strengthening a weak old magnet like this?

Or, has anyone ever figured out how to open one of these things up, to perhaps replace its old original magnet with a stronger, more modern item?

Strange - as a rule, magnets do not lose a lot of their strength over time. It’s either very old, or has been stored loosley with a bunch of other magnets. Or it has been exposed to extremely high temperatures, which is unlikely. You have nothing to lose, pull off the felt and see what’s inside. It may be very easy to glue in another magnet (which are available at Home Depot)

There is/was an older set on one of the Cyber Monday lists that was sent today. ('Sorry I don't remember which list, but this item is priced very reasonably.)

I THINK different kinds of magnets DO lose strength over time. Maybe someone who has had success dealing with such things can clarify?

The reason I'm asking is that I have an old set of Turtle Trio (Tenyo or Tricks Co.) and one those little guys or the telescope is too weak to penetrate the cardboard box. >>HELP<<

Try rubbing a very strong magnet against the weak one a bunch of times. That may work.

Rubbing is iffy and will help, I suggest that you attach the weaker magnetic pieces to the appropriate side of the stronger magnet and store them attached, it will realign the electrons. The weakened magnets may not fully recover to their full strength, but they should gain some strength.

By way of follow-up (and for the record): I picked up a short stack of small but strong neodymium magnets at the hardware store ($8), and let the stack attach itself to my old vintage Magical Block (it snapped itself right into place) for a minute or two.

Lo and behold, the Block works considerably better now.