metal detector and planers / joiners

[Joe W.]

Stopped in at the local Woodcraft store and while looking around, discovered a metal detector for checking out wood for nails, screws and other metal objects before putting it thru the joiner/planer to help keep from damaging the blades.

seems like a good tool to have for reusing/salvaging wood such a pallets and the like.

Was wondering if anyone here has one of these and their opinion of the detector.

 

[Wichman]

I have a "treasure hunting" metal detector that I got from HF that I use for this, seems to work well and is multi functional.

 

[kmmcrafts]

I don't have one, but could be a good investment. My brother runs one over the logs before they get loaded onto the sawmill cutting deck.

My advice on pallet wood and planners is.. they don't go well together unless you want expensive free lumber, if that makes sense. LOL When I first got my planer I ripped right into several old pallets I had sitting around here.. and only after about 10 pallets worth of board going through my planer knives was hardly cutting and the planer bogging down.. Pallets get a lot of dirt / grit on them from all the transport they go through before getting to the end user.. hard to get that dirt / grit off of rough cut lumber.. so anyway, I give  my pallets away unless I have a rustic project where I need rough cut lumber.. just remember that if it dulls planer knives it'll also dull table saw and bandsaw blades too.. 

[dgman]

Yes, I have a hand held metal detector. It has saved the blades on my planer many times. Wouldn’t be without it!

[Dak0ta52]

I've done some metal detecting. An item a lot of metal detectors use is a pin pointer. This is a handheld unit that signals when in proximity of any metal. The pin pointer is considerably less expensive than a metal detector and would work great finding nails.

[flarud]

Harbor Freight has a couple different models.  I have the smaller one and use it before sending anything thru my planer.  It works well for me.  

[Gene Howe]

On 3/28/2022 at 6:03 PM, Joe W. said:

Stopped in at the local Woodcraft store and while looking around, discovered a metal detector for checking out wood for nails, screws and other metal objects before putting it thru the joiner/planer to help keep from damaging the blades.

seems like a good tool to have for reusing/salvaging wood such a pallets and the like.

Was wondering if anyone here has one of these and their opinion of the detector.

 

Don't have a small one but, I've used a larger one, for finding metal in the ground. A bit unwieldy for small pieces, though.