I have about 300 or 400 board feet of stockpiled recycled oak and I would like to de-nail, plane and reuse some of it for window trim. I was just wondering what the best metal detectors are that people have used. I tried going the cheap route and bought an el cheapo "American Hawk" detector off Amazon. It�s pretty much worthless as it constantly gives false positives. Basically it is thirty bucks or so down the drain, as now the Amazon listing includes comments about them being fake knock-offs, so I'm sure the money back guarantee is worthless.

I'm wondering if anyone thinks the Lumber Wizards are worth the $130 or so they're priced at? I am also curious about the Garrett detectors. This website seems to think they are pretty great, but they obviously have a financial interest (and their website looks like it was a high school kid�s class project): http://www.detectmetal.com/garrett-m...tor-review.htm

Also, is doing the salvaged wood thing even worth the hassle and expense of a decent metal detector? I try to buy any salvage lumber for like 50 cents a bdft but for regular old flatsawn oak it seems like it may be a losing proposition since my local lumberyard is selling it for $3.50 a bdft. Seems like I might be better of just using it for random rough lumber projects that don't require any milling like benches and the like. Any thoughts would be much appreciated, thanks.