On 08/07/2014 07:35 PM, Percival P. Cassidy wrote:
On 08/07/14 12:42 pm, Ralph Mowery wrote:

BUT neither the electronic stud finder nor the swiveling-magnet nail
finder will locate these screws.

I know that fancy and expensive devices exist that are claimed to be
able to find nails in lumber, but is there some simple and cheaper way
to do what I need?

If the screws are not brass you might try rare earth magnets.

I was thinking along the same line. Maybe one of the magnets out of
an old
hard drive. They are strong enough to penetrate a short distance.

The screws are steel rather than brass.

I thought I still had several magnets from dead hard drives (mostly
Western Digital), but I've found only one small pair. Sliding one of
these (one half of the pair) along the surface of the workbench, I do
find some spots where it wants to stay put and swivel rather than slide
further along, so I think it is doing the job. When I have more time,
I'll mark the spots and see whether they are at regular intervals: I
can't be sure where I drove the screws, but I am reasonably confident
that they were equally spaced (or close enough to).

Perce




Yep, you found them.


The easy way to find them of course is with a drill bit.