Wanting a recommendation for metal detectors for wood…

[steve_g]

We have been commissioned to make a harvest table from salvaged lumber… Have any of you used a metal detector to find nails etc.? I’m interested in hearing how successful/reliable it was and if you can recommend a brand/model.
Thanks!
SG

[willnewton]

I have. It almost always works, but is not a guarantee. Something always seemed to slip by. Many times it is not a metal object that will hurt your blades, we have discovered embedded rocks and/or glass as well.

If scheduling allowed, we would wait to start salvage lumber pieces until the planer blades needed a change, even if we weren't ready to start the actual construction. If not, we would just change things over to crappy, old blades for processing heart pine or anything folks had sawn up themselves.

A table saw or chop saw will cut through most old nails with no issue, except for possibly launching them. The planer and joiner blades do not fare so well.

Really, a nail or piece of metal did not damage the blades as much as the dirt. If you get a small nick, you can shift the blade and keep on trucking, but if you don't wire brush the wood beforehand, it is like running sandpaper through the blades, dulling them quickly and ruining them for other wood until sharpened.

It really depends on the amount of wood, the care with which it was cut, and where/how it was stored. Certainly a detector will help, but it may not be justified unless you are doing A LOT of salvage work. Instead of buying, many tool rental companies have them available, as they are used for finding wires and pipes.

[coryatjohn]

I have a Garrett SuperWand Metal Detector. It works pretty well but like willnewton mentioned, it won't find everything. The Garrett Superwand detects metal deep inside the wood, not just on the surface so you can find embedded barbed wire and other things that might have entered the wood many years ago.

[dlcw]

We have been commissioned to make a harvest table from salvaged lumber… Have any of you used a metal detector to find nails etc.? I’m interested in hearing how successful/reliable it was and if you can recommend a brand/model.
Thanks!
SG

Steve,

Is this a project that will be very profitable for you? I've done projects like this in the past and got burned because, even after using a metal detector, I still lost planer, jointer and saw blades.

I have finally gotten to the point that if someone is very interested in a project like this, write it into the contract that if any blades, bits, knives, etc. are damaged, these will be added to the price of the project and will be included in the final invoice. You might also want to write into the contract that since reclaimed wood can have stuff in it, part of the project cost is to have bits, blades and knives used in the project sharpened/replaced as they will quite possibly sustain damage. This might make it so you can keep your margins without loosing them in new/resharpening costs.

[steve_g]

Well, I can’t say we went into this uninformed! We’ve decided to meet with the customer and express our concerns…
Thanks all for your input!
SG

[Riptide369]

If you proceed you may want to look at the Lumber Wizard ($25=$150) that most folks using Saw Stop use to detect metal up to 6" into the lumber. Moisture detector might also be useful if you are worried about deformations after ShopBotting material with too much moisture.