Bought this to put on a portable sawmill for a permanent inch scale to square up the cants. Also to use part of it on a portable edger. Sticks pretty good to bare metal and /or galvanized type metal which is where I am using it. The more of a coating or layers of paint on something the less it likes to stick. Magnet is not real thick or powerful . Works adequately on painted surfaces. Does not like to stick well to powder coat or on top of vinyl decals. It will stick to those surfaces but its easy to knock off.