What do you use to find metal in wood before planing?

[Thomas Colson]

I currently use Handy Man Nail FinderS3019-HLumber that I got on Amz, and I hate it. It is the wand type, and if you move it fast, it false positives. The only way I find true positives is if I take 1-2 minutes to scan each side of the board. I'm dealing with reclaimed lumber so I have to be diligent. Looking for something a little more accurate and faster for scanning wood for metal.

[Tom Trees]

I have an Adams security wand got secondhand on the bay, and it sounds the same.
It will hone in on the rebar in the floor at waist height ... well, I presume there is some rebar in the floor. when the button is held down for a period.
This is a good thing, better more accurate than the opposite, as once and a while there may be the remnants of a staple that will evade most consumer devices.

I spend about the same time scanning, and find this is one of the most efficient part of the whole deal for me!
De nailing can take some time and its nice to have a wee break in between each plank, but I suppose it depends how you are going about salvaging the timber, are you going to cut off ends with metal embedded, or are you plugging the holes?

If the latter is the case then your nail finder may be the ticket , unless you have some trick up your sleeve to cut and plug the timber.
If so that would be quite interesting

Tom

[Lisa Starr]

I have the cheap HF wand with the sensitivity turned way up. There's lots of info on doing that on Google. I've used tons of reclaimed lumber from our home and never missed a nail. You do have to watch where you use it though or you'll pick up metal that is actually in the supporting surface, not the board.

[Brian Tymchak]

I use a Lumber Wizard 4 and it does a very good job. It's a little finicky about getting the sensitivity adjusted just right but once I get it dialed in, it works great.

[Thomas Colson]

When I find a nail, or screw, or whatever, here are the steps in order I try:
Put on ground, and use 4 foot pry bar to pull it out;
If I can't get the head, I use some 45$ metal tool forget the name but designed to get nails without trashing wood;
If that don't work I might pound it through with a punch
If I can't get a screw out I use a garbage drill bit and drill 1-3 holes next to it till I can get at it with lock jaws
If I still can't find the metal and keep getting hits on detector I just cut the whole section out.

I fill in the holes with black tinted epoxy then plane. Doing this exclusively with oak.

[Terry Wawro]

I use a cheap $20 wand detector from Amazon. "V-Resourcing Portable High Sensitivity Metal Detector"
It works great and I've never had a false positive unless it was my fault for using wrong. Like the board being on my table saw wing, or placing a tool to close.

[Andy D Jones]

Most metal detectors find metal that is moving relative to the detector, or vice versa.

The farther away the metal from the detector, the faster the relative motion required to detect. Moving the wand quickly over the wood allows it to find metal farther away (like re-mesh/re-bar in the floor or fasteners/wiring in the ceiling).

If you can find a way to move the wood past a stationary wand, then the wand will not find any metal that is not moving, thus finding only metal in the wood (or anything else that is moving).

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[Andrew Hughes]

I use a metal detector for prospecting called a mine lab. It’s really good at finding nails i find a lot of nails in the mountains where there’s supposed to be gold. 🤨
I don’t use reclaimed wood too often I can find a speck of metal in the wood if it’s there.

[John K Jordan]

Most metal detectors find metal that is moving relative to the detector, or vice versa.

Just curious, what kind of metal detector do you use that requires motion to detect?

Those I use, several Lumber Wizards and two metal detectors made for treasure hunting, work differently. Motion is used to locate the general area but once something is found the metal is pinpointed by slowing then stopping at the spot. One of the Lumber Wizards beeps and projects a red laser line when you stop over the spot on the board or log. (I don’t find the laser that useful at the sawmill in the sunlight and I can’t hear the beep when wearing hearing protection.) Another one vibrates the handle, much better. My best treasure-hunting detector (Minelab) can be switched to a pinpointing mode which uses a tone which get louder when the coil approaches then stops directly over the metal.

[Tom M King]

I'm using a regular treasure hunting metal finder. I originally bought it to find surveying stakes, but it works great for finding metal in wood, including logs.

[Larry Frank]

I also use the HF metal detector and happy with it.

[Andy D Jones]

I don't use one, but as a retired electrical engineer, I know how many work (perhaps I incorrectly extrapolated to 'most'). By including 'motion' (e.g. slow change in disturbance strength, not just disturbance strength itself) a detector filters out noise- and/or bias-caused false alarms. If the signal is strong enough, (close and/or large enough), a change in field strength is not required.

It's a simple enough test to find out if the detector in question uses this. Simply hold the detector waste-high over the floor and see if it goes off. If not, then move it (still waste-high), and see if it then picks up the false alarm.

-- Andy - Arlington TX