Wrecked a good blade...metal in my lumberyard purchase

[Dan Friedrichs]

I hit a pretty heavy staple on the edge of a piece of maple I bought at my regular lumberyard (they're reputable - this is a real surprise to me). Now my Woodslicer bandsaw blade wobbles and cuts significantly slower - I think it's junked.

Should I be running a metal detector over lumber that I purchased retail S3S?

[David Helm]

Yes! When lumber is shipped, the unit is wrapped in plastic which is stapled to the wood. It's always a good idea to check for these staples.

[Bruce Page]

I did the same thing to my then two week old jointer, I was not a happy camper.

[Myk Rian]

I check EVERY piece of wood before doing anything to it.

[Pete Bradley]

It happens. Years ago I got asome sparks while rounding the edge of a maple coffee table top with a router. Turned out the tree had an old nail in it. The carbide bit rounded it flush with the wood and it looks like a knot from any distance at all.

Pete

[Andrew Nemeth]

I got a pretty good sized nail in a rough board of cherry I bought in a 1000bf order I placed. It put a nice big chip in a new set of 15" planer knives. I called the company I placed the order with and asked them if I should expect this with their rough-sawn lumber. They didn't offer to replace or sharpen the blades for me but they offered to send out 100bf of really nice black cherry. Sure did take the sting out of the expirience!

I may be the lone wolf here but unless I buy salvaged or reclaimed lumber I do not expect to routinly find embeded metal in a board. I certainly would be upset if it was placed there after the milling (eg heavy duty staples) of s3s board.

[Jerome Stanek]

The company that I work for gets a lot of plywood from China and we hit a lot of metal in it.

[george wilson]

All kinds of junk have been found in Chinese plywood. Pieces of snow fencing and soccer balls have been mentioned here before.

[Dan Friedrichs]

The company that I work for gets a lot of plywood from China and we hit a lot of metal in it.

Yeah, I've hit little bits of metal in BORG plywood before, too. But it just surprised me to find it on S3S lumber.

Oh well - at least it wasn't a brand new blade.

[Peter Quinn]

Sorry to hear it but I see it every day. The lumber tags that the mills tack on out of the kiln are all stapled. Someone rips off the paper tag, the staples rust, hard to see but they pop right up when a tool hits them. I find them in edges and ends of boards all the time. One or two companies use plastic staples, not sure why they all don't? The staples for the lumber bags are very large and really hard on tooling but easier to spot. I check every board. Remember, S3S leaves two ends and one edge untouched, and thats plenty of places for an errant staple to hide. I like the metal detector idea!

[Bill ThompsonNM]

Hmm, Maybe a sawstop with a built in metal detector . Now there's an idea. Better be using blades that cost more then the cartridge.

[Bill Davis]

Should I be running a metal detector over lumber that I purchased retail S3S?

I have worked in IT in a previous -b4 retirement - life and frequently offered this maybe related advice.

"Doing data backups is a waste of time - Until you have a problem that makes you wish you had. Then it's too late."

Considering the risk before you do or do not do something is a good thing but I have so many times not followed my own advice and paid the price.
I hate it when that happens.

I've thought of getting a metal detector several times but ... still don't have one.

Certainly is unexpected in new S3S lumber IMO but a time consuming, waste-of-time scan with a $70 metal detector could have saved a $20 blade and the agony experienced.

[Karl Brogger]

I haven't seen much metal lately. The most common thing I used to find was bullets. At least that's what I'd assume it was, can't really think of any other reason there'd be a hunk of lead in a tree.

I don't use a bandsaw for much, but most circular carbide blades will whistle through just about anything with the only issue being dulling the blade a bit. Half the time if I have to cut through a couple of nails I don't even bother swapping blades as they're so soft anyway. Screws on the other hand are hard.

Soccer balls? Classic!

[Alex Leslie]

+1 on the bullets. The soft lead really doesn't hurt blades too much. I've left them in some of the pieces I made with the lumber. Not children's furniture, though!

[Neal Clayton]

yeah i'm two for two on lead musket balls myself. fired a couple out of the planer in the past year. thankfully they're soft enough not to do any damage (or hurt that much ).