Thread: metal detector for domestic logs ?

Originally Posted by apricotripper

I know a few millers that won't bother with domestic logs because of metal strikes.....Is there any metal detector thats good enough to put your mind at ease. .....

There's this one.....
Metal Detector : CARBA-TEC

but the price reminds me of a economy hobby type metal detector I got for my 10th birthday that picked up metal only a few mill in sand.

That's the one I have. I bought it after I struck a few nails but ever since then I have never picked anything up with it nor struck any more nails. I keep it in the car just on case my suspicions get aroused. I do use it before putting recycled timber through my thicknesser and it has picked up small brads and nails.

When I bought mine I spent some time investigating then and found out that just about all those detectors that come out of china use the same circuitry and unless you are prepared to fork out many hundreds you are unlikely to do much better. I've had as much problems with glass, stones and even concrete - a metal detector will not help with these.

Keep in mind that these devices are good to a couple of inches with a large nail and to a few mm for a small brad. Nothing short of something from a military security facility will find a 1" nail in the middle of a log.

Deep seated metal in heartwood of large logs is pretty hard to detect. The best detector seems to be the saw blade. The dearer the blade the better it is at finding metal

to be honest it only costs $60 to get a blade tipped, most logs even if you hit a nail are still worth cutting.

if you metal detect every log the time metal detecting and teh cost of teh detector would end up costing more than a blade now and again.

When I read this thread I thought some of the comments odd as my metal detector works really well.

Then I thought more carefully about it and remembered I have never used it on logs. Actually I have never had to as I rarely ever milled "domestic" or "backyard' logs.

I bought my Little Wizzard for use on demolition timber when running material through a thicknesser. That is quite a different operation as the metal foreign bodies are normally vertical in the timber as you would expect with a nail of screw. The problem with the back yard log is that the timber grows over the nail or hook and may become deeply embedded towards the heart.

I grabbed some strips of plywood and placed a lump of metail under them gradually building up the plywood strips. At 50mm of ply I could detect the bar so long as it was on it's flat side as on edge it missed it. It was the same story with a 75 x 50 piece of cypress. I also tried a 4" nail under the timbers with a similar result.

What I didn't try was how it performed with a denser timber.

I can recommend the metal detector I use, but within it's limitations.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by apricotripper

I know a few millers that won't bother with domestic logs because of metal strikes.....Is there any metal detector thats good enough to put your mind at ease. .....

There's this one.....
Metal Detector : CARBA-TEC

but the price reminds me of a economy hobby type metal detector I got for my 10th birthday that picked up metal only a few mill in sand.

I just got given this for my last birthday from my parents yet to use it on a log, but yeah it is only a surface thingo - certainly not centre of log thing but I reckon when ya see that tell tale sign you can whipe her out have a check for the next layer, but tbh I'm with carl on it - no point spending all the time and effort on the whole log

Log milling usually mean large sectional sizes which are well beyond the abilities of the average metal detector. As Sigidi said, you have to watch for the stain. But this again may only be so deep and a ten inch cut could be well beyond stain penetration. When all is said and done the blade seems to be the only sure detector.

I have a minelab xterra and it has paid for itself several times over. I don't check all logs. Only the ones that have come from suspect areas. eg the Camphor Laurel that grew in the chook pen.

regards
steve

thanks for your thoughts.