Lumber Wizard Metal Detector Review

The case for this tool is arithmetic. A set of planer or thicknesser knives costs a meaningful amount. A carbide saw blade costs more. A single hidden nail in a reclaimed board takes out either one in a fraction of a second, and it does it loudly and sometimes dangerously.

A metal detector that catches the nail beforehand costs less than one set of knives.

What it actually finds

Nails and screws, obviously. More usefully, staples — the small ones from pallet strapping and crate assembly, which sink below the surface, corrode to the colour of the timber and are effectively invisible.

Lead shot turns up in old fence rails and barn timber more often than people expect, and it is small enough that only a reasonably sensitive detector finds it.

How to use it properly

Scan on a wooden surface, away from machines. The detector cannot tell your bench vice from a nail, and a bench with steel in it will keep it chirping.

Go slowly, and scan both faces and both edges. Depth sensitivity falls off quickly, so a nail near the far face may only show from that side.

Mark every hit with chalk before moving the board, and mark generously — the detector tells you there is metal near the tip, not its exact position. Then dig it out or cut around it.

The sensitivity trade-off

Turn it up and it finds small staples and also reacts to mineral streaks, damp knots and sometimes nothing identifiable. Turn it down and it stays quiet and misses the staple.

The practical approach is to run it high and accept false positives on reclaimed material, and run it lower on stock you are only spot-checking. A few unnecessary chalk marks cost nothing.

Who does not need one

If every board you use comes dressed from a timber merchant, this tool will never find anything. The moment you start buying salvage, pallets or barn timber, it becomes the first thing you reach for.