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Metal detector ???????

Started by Sawdustslinger, September 15, 2004, 04:51:49 PM

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Sawdustslinger


I'm new to the sawing world. I would like to know what metal detector you guys would recommend.  Thanks

Tom

Welcome Sawdustslinger.

Most of the better companys have detectors in the 300 dollar range that will do a good job without your owning a bank.

Check out White's classic line.  Three detectors that will do the job.  Garrett and other manufacturers also  have comparable machines.

http://www.whiteselectronics.com/classic2.html

VA-Sawyer

I got one last year at Wal-Mart for a little under $300.  It worked great till a stack of wood fell on it. I need to order a new search coil.
VA-Sawyer

Sawdustslinger

Thanks guys for all the information. I had a cheap Radio Shack model......But my dad was helping me move a stack of 2 x 4's. Well let's just say that it would not hold up the weight of a 4020 John Deer.::) And now that I have to replace it, I would like to get a good one.   :)

leweee

Sawdustslinger....check the Drying &Processing forum Pg.4 half way down"metal detectors". ;)
just another beaver with a chainsaw &  it's never so bad that it couldn't get worse.

Gilman

I'm a little fuzzy on this whole metal detector thing.  If I'm reading correctly I think that if you crush your metal detector it no longer locates tramp?  ::)
WM LT70, WM 40 Super, WM  '89 40HD
Cat throwing champion 1996, 1997, 1999. (retired)

VA-Sawyer

Gilman,

Would you ?  :D

VA-Sawyer

Frank_Pender

I run a Rens 3000.  I sure like it.  I have used it for several years without a problem.   It is specifically designed for metal detection in wood fiber, but I have used it to find buried power lines as deep as 4'. 8)
Frank Pender

isawlogs

I use a radio shack also, I figure if anything happens to it I can replace it quite easely , if I bought a real exxpensive one , what hapened to yours would surely hapen to mine , so I'll stick with the radio shack that little guy works well around the mill and don't cost an arm and a leg...
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

Tom

One of my recent customers was using a Radio Shack detector and it wasn't finding a thing.  I threw a quarter on the ground and it had to come within an inch of it before it went off.   I thought it might have been the way it was tuned but it wasn't.  I wouldn't give you 10 cents for a truckload of them.

My Garrett is a fairly expensive model and costs in the upper-middle of their price ranges.  I can detect a quarter at about 12 inches when things are perfect and 8" always.  You are usually looking for the head of a nail in a log.  The surface you are searching for is around an eighth of an inch.  That isn't very big.  My detector will find it at about 4" usually. Sometimes deeper.  The larger the profile of the target the deeper you will detect it.  It is also important that you can pinpoint where the nail is located so that you can cut it out without destroying the entire log.

You will find that detectors like the classics I mentioned above
will have sensitivities close to my more expensive detector.  They just don't have all of the discrimination features of the more expensive detectors.  It's worth it to buy a good tool when shopping for a detector.  

The other reason to get a good detector is that you will find yourself sawing in some historically rich areas.  Your customers will usually allow you to look for artifacts at lunch or in the evenings.  They will many times join in.   I enjoy going home with an old hammer head or Axe that has been laying there just under the ground for 100 years, waiting for me to come along and pick it up. :)

When shopping for a detector, I would recommend going to a Metal Detector store, a treasure hunting store.  Get the folks inside to demo the detectors and teach you how to use it.  Get them to explain the differences between one manufacturer and the other.

I've used detectors since my first one in 1973.  It was a used White BFO and I still have it somewhere.  (just can't get batteries for it anymore)  I would feel uncomfortable buying a detector from a department store or from someone who didn't use detectors.  If you know exactly which detector you want, then you can shop flea markets and pawn shops.  If you don't know exactly which you want, go to a detector store, go straight to a detector store.  Don't pass Go and don't collect $200.  ;D :D

rvrdivr

I bought a bountyhunter from walmart for $100.00. I'm not sure how well it works because I have not found anything with it yet, but neither has my saw blade :D
I have several more expensive machines I bought from Kellyco. They have a huge store in Orlando FL. and very good prices.
http://www.kellycodetectors.com/indexmain.htm

Arthur

give simon an email.

He is the Peterson dealer here in Oz and has an amazing metal detector.

(IM me for the email address)


beerguy

I detect as a hobby, and have owned a bunch of them. Whites is a good brand, as is Fisher and Garett. Tesoro makes a good machine as well. Get one good enough to have a pinpoint feature, and a small handheld pinpointer is pretty neat too. Then you can go detecting with all your spare time.

DanG

If you don't have a detector store handy, as most of us don't, I recommend Kellyco. I ordered from their website, but did it over the phone. I was all set to just order the one I liked the look of, and the lady asked me what I would be using it for. When I told her, she referred me to another salesman that knew more about using them on wood. What he told me completely changed my choice, and I bought a Fisher. Can't remember the model # offhand, though.  I did have a slight problem with a certain group of logs a while back. It was detecting stuff that wasn't there. ???  Dug several holes in the logs with an air chisel and never found anything. Never figgered out why, either.
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

rvrdivr

DanG,  could it have been buckshot? I've got two Fishers and they are a good machine. They'er the one who started it all.

Fla._Deadheader

  Minerals, DanG, minerals. Pockets of minerals will set off detectors. Rule of thumb, If the signal isn't real "crisp" solid sound, it is PROBABLY minerals.

  Were the logs all the same type and from the same general area???
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

music_boy

Just bought a Fisher 1225 from Kellyco. Gota have one and the sales rep reccomended this one. Said they sell alot for this application. Reversed rolls and sold her on the idea of putting an add(sponser) on this site for their detectors. Sposed to look into it.
     Thanks for the thread. Came at a good time for me.
Rick
It's not how much YOU love, it is how much you ARE loved that matters. (Wizard of OZ)

DanG

M-boy, that's the same one I got. Nice machine. :)

Yeah, that's what I'm thinkin' it was FDH. We discussed that incident in another thread.  It was frusterizing fer shore! Had already hit a nail in one of them, then found these false readings in 4 more. After finding nothing in the first one, I put down a tarp to catch all the chips from the others. Found nothing in them and scanned the chips, too.  Also moved the logs around to eliminate outside interferance. If I hadn't had the Hootiemobile and an air chisel, I woulda trashed the whole lot of'em. :D :D
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

Bruce_A

Hey guys;  if you are getting that noise from a particular logging area, you probably are gettting logs from an area  with heavy metal contamination.  A good detector might even get the name of the artist for you. :D :D ;D

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