On Tuesday, November 26, 2013 8:27:19 PM UTC-6, Puckdropper wrote:
Michael wrote in

:





Same here, Sonny. I use a lot of recycled and rough cut wood. I use my

bench jointer (and thickness jointer) all the time. I don't get many

nicks in the blades because I use a Lumber Wizard metal detector on

every piece of recycled wood that goes into my machines. It was kind

of expensive (100 bucks), but it's paid for itself many times.



I've got a smaller hand-held metal detector that was about $20. Every time

it catches a nail or screw that I missed, it's paid for itself. New planer

blades are about $50, so it doesn't take very many missed nails to make a

metal detector worthwhile.



Approximately how far down does your Lumber Wizard reach? I usually have

to scan all four edges on a 2x4 to make sure I didn't miss anything.



Puckdropper

--

Make it to fit, don't make it fit.

Here's the info from the manual:
Under ideal conditions, and with a properly
tuned unit, the Lumber Wizard III can
detect:
a solid piece of metal at approximately 6”
deep
a large deck screw at up to 3”; a medium
nail at up to 1.5”
a paneling nail at up to 3/4”
a wood staple at up to 3/8”

This sounds about right in my experience. I will say that some people (product reviews I just looked at) who have bought the Lumber Wizard III have found that it breaks and customer service is terrible. I have had mine for years, at least five, maybe eight (tempus fugit), and it's always worked well for me. If I was going to buy another, I would probably get one from a company that is better known, like Garrett.