Planeing wood - finding nails before it hits the blade.

Present approximate thickness ?

SeniorSitizen said:

Present approximate thickness ?

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3.5 inches by 13 inches. I'll post a pic.

If you are going to be reclaiming a lot of wood something like this would easily pay for itself in one blade.
https://www.amazon.com/Detector-Sen...cphy=9033433&hvtargid=pla-1215622650706&psc=1

I have a very strong magnet I use to find nails below the surface of a piece of wood. I run the magnet slowly over the surface, My magnet will pull towards the nail below the surface. Let the magnet find the nail below. You can use a second very small dia. magnet to get a more precise location of the nail.

You would think some type of metal detector would be on large commercial plainers.

It would have to act as fast as a saw stop. I don't think that would be very cheap!
That little $30 thing I linked up above is pretty cheap insurance.

skyking1 said:

If you are going to be reclaiming a lot of wood something like this would easily pay for itself in one blade.
https://www.amazon.com/Detector-Sensitivity-360°Scanning-Locating-Waterproof/dp/B08XGQ96RB/ref=asc_df_B08XGQ96RB/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=507789767889&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2882409788235298248&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033433&hvtargid=pla-1215622650706&psc=1

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Yup. I built several bookcases out of reclaimed pine and needed to prove the wood before planing. Not the model you linked but there are several that are fairly inexpensive.

Nowwww, we all knowwww,

New blades in the planer is the fastest and surest way of finding nails in wood.
Every Time !

My fingers couldn't help themselves... it had to be typed... 😃

Thom Paine said:

Nowwww, we all knowwww,
New blades in the planer is the fastest and surest way of finding nails in wood.
Every Time !

Click to expand...

Been there.....done that.
I use a metal detector now.

Frank Lavorngia said:

3.5 inches by 13 inches.

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Check your planer manual.
I was going to plane 2 boards....6x12x1"
Manual says no shorter than 14" to avoid potential kick back.

BTW.... Thanks for this thread. I'll be purchasing something similar.
Hit a nail w/my expensive router bit.

skyking1 said:

If you are going to be reclaiming a lot of wood something like this would easily pay for itself in one blade.
https://www.amazon.com/Detector-Sensitivity-360°Scanning-Locating-Waterproof/dp/B08XGQ96RB/ref=asc_df_B08XGQ96RB/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=507789767889&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2882409788235298248&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033433&hvtargid=pla-1215622650706&psc=1

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I have the harbor freight version and it works well. I don't remember what I paid for it.

Unbeknownst to some people, computer hard drives have a powerful magnet inside. Working in IT I have acquired a few of these magnets from dead hard drives which I use to locate nails in boards. I also screwed a number of them onto a board, attached a handle and used it as a crude metal detector to find dropped screws in my yard after building my deck.

NOTE: These magnets are only found in hard disk drives (HDD), not in solid state drives (SSD).

Of course you could purchase some rare earth magnets from a craft or hobby store or online.

Would a stud finder work for this?

I conversed with my sawyer this A.M. about logs containing metal and his reply was " usually with the newest / sharpest blade I own " . But he also mentioned his metal detector was only good for about 1" in wood .

Frank Lavorngia said:

You would think some type of metal detector would be on large commercial plainers.

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Most commercial shops won't run suspect or reclaimed wood, or anything from "yard trees." The ones who do work with that type of material will metal detect for hidden items and assume knives will eventually be nicked in the process.

wrbrb said:

Would a stud finder work for this?

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I do not think so.