Best metal detector for nails / staples and fencing wire in trees for milling

[Macpherson]

3 hours ago, arboriculturist said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but any Metal Detector used for detecting metal in timber needs to be designed for locating metal within a water saturated medium as growing trees can be circa. 50% water.

 

Maybe my best bet would be to phone a few dedicated retailers up to get a feel for what is best, as I really wish to end up with the perfect tool for the job.

That's my take on it, if I try to detect through a dry beam for instance I don't get as clear a result to a standing or newly felled tree that may have wire at fence height.

 

I joined this forum about 7 years ago to ask this question when I first got into milling and there have been many different views and experiences posted since then... the subject is quite hard to research and I did as you suggest, phoned round various dealers with mixed results until one guy gave me C Scopes number and I ended up taking to the owner / head  designer who gave me a lot of tech info which led me to the 4pi.... second hand, which I always felt slightly guilty about😊

As tech moves along and milling gets more popular I wouldn't be surprised if there's better advice and detectors out there as mine is quite old now.

 

I don't do anywhere near the milling as others on here and use an ms650  36" / 3/8" set up... a lot of the wood I get comes from in and around gardens / field margins with plenty of scope for metal but so far I've detected plenty and managed to avoided anything nasty, 🤞 good luck

[arboriculturist]

23 minutes ago, Macpherson said:

That's my take on it, if I try to detect through a dry beam for instance I don't get as clear a result to a standing or newly felled tree that may have wire at fence height.

 

I joined this forum about 7 years ago to ask this question when I first got into milling and there have been many different views and experiences posted since then... the subject is quite hard to research and I did as you suggest, phoned round various dealers with mixed results until one guy gave me C Scopes number and I ended up taking to the owner / head  designer who gave me a lot of tech info which led me to the 4pi.... second hand, which I always felt slightly guilty about😊

As tech moves along and milling gets more popular I wouldn't be surprised if there's better advice and detectors out there as mine is quite old now.

 

I don't do anywhere near the milling as others on here and use an ms650  36" / 3/8" set up... a lot of the wood I get comes from in and around gardens / field margins with plenty of scope for metal but so far I've detected plenty and managed to avoided anything nasty, 🤞 good luck

Your post fills me with confidence that I am on the right track. So I'll get on the phone and come up with a verdict.

Thanks

[Macpherson]

10 minutes ago, arboriculturist said:

So I'll get on the phone and come up with a verdict.

 

It'll be interesting to find out what the latest up to date info on the subject is 👍

[arboriculturist]

7 minutes ago, Macpherson said:

It'll be interesting to find out what the latest up to date info on the subject is 👍

I'll report back.😃

[spudulike]

The CS4PI is a beach detector. PI detectors don't get effected by the mineral changes from dry to wet sand as many other detectors do. They have very deep detection, are a bit weird when you first try them if you are used to other machines but they go very deep but no discrimination like VLF based machines that can.

On those "magic carrot" hand held pinpointers, they are useful when on the beach and the Chinese copies are actually quite good for the money!

[TuscanPhil]

11 hours ago, spudulike said:

On those "magic carrot" hand held pinpointers, the Chinese copies are actually quite good for the money!

Any 'pointers' as to which one you've got please? Just looking on AliExpress now....

[Jamespepperpot]

18 hours ago, Rough Hewn said:

It depends what type of log you’re milling.
Cheap logs which contain metal could be firewooded at little loss.
Very expensive logs..
You’d mill em anyway.
Metal or not.
Small nails and wire are no problem with .404 chain.
I’ve also milled logs with metal in, and missed it.

+1 for what Rough said. I have a military mine detector which will find metal quite deep into large logs but realistically its only really useful for finding screws and nails etc that are in the bark or the first layer of the tree because they're the ones you can pull or cut out easily. Trees that react with metal usually give away their location on the end grain so you can do your best to avoid them with the depth of cut.

Sometimes I will mill down to the layer I think its on and then just cut that section out with a saw. Especially if I'm using the Lucas mill because I'm usually cutting dimensional timber so it just means you have a shorter board but still a undamaged blade.

 

Ex Army Vallon VMH3CS Metal Mine Detector Kit Fully Working in Soft Case [TD1]

WWW.EBAY.CO.UK

---

Field instructions, Parts List, Headset and Test Piece Included. Search Head: 30.8 x 17cm. Water Tightness of...

 

I have one of these but only paid £120 for it and it came in a bag with a peli case too. I use it on its lowest sensitivity otherwise it can pick up metal in the ground underneath the logs if they're not massive.

 

[cowolter]

The technology required for a metal detector capable of detecting nails in wood is not complicated. You'd be fine with any of them. I use the Zircon MetalliScanner and it works just fine.

https://printsbery.com/planner-templates/daily

Edited March 31, 2021 by cowolter

[agg221]

On 28/03/2021 at 15:21, arboriculturist said:

That's interesting information. I have only lo Pro on a Ported 660 so would need to be cautious.

A fair few of the trees I can source we remove ourselves and being able to do that with the knowledge that we can pretty much avoid all metal in a tree would be a massive game changer. That is why I think investing quality equipment to find the metal would be a massive game changer.

 

If a 36" bar would be long enough for what you have in mind then it might be worth considering adding a standard roller-nosed 3/8" bar and ripping chain - maybe skip tooth. It will cut a bit slower, but you are far less likely to snap the chain when you hit metal. It's really only the hardened nails that will kill it - it will go through soft iron. The reason for thinking skip tooth if you can get it is that if you know there is a risk of hitting metal then you have fewer teeth to sort out afterwards.

 

In my early days of milling I once spent over two hours digging barbed wire out of a hedgerow oak by chiselling out the relevant section. I needed 20' planks and couldn't afford to cut anything off the end. Tedious!

 

Alec

[spudulike]

On 29/03/2021 at 07:53, TuscanPhil said:

Any 'pointers' as to which one you've got please? Just looking on AliExpress now....

Sorry, missed your post. It is branded "GP Pointer". It looks like the Garrett pointer which is much counterfeited so watch out for fake ones if you see a bargain one. 

I have used it a fair bit over the last few years and helps direct you where to dig once you have a bit of a hole and can't tell exactly where the metal is.