woodworking metal detector

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kityuser

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being new to woodworking (yes... another started by norm!! what a guy!) i rushed out a built a coffee table (pine). Many hours later (and a very pleased new woodworker) i admired my finished table, took it indoors and watched it shrink and crack :( !!!

anyhow, I`ve now sourced some old (well seasoned) timber but want to find a metal detector to "run over".

any ideas???

anyone seen such an item?

cheers
 
Steven,
Putting aside your Normite tendancies :? I believe a wiring/pipe detector will work for this. You know, like the ones you use to make sure you don't go right through the cold water pipe when you're hanging a mirror over the basin.
I think everyone has been comfronted by timber's ability to shrink, split, warp, cup or twist and wondered why on earth they decided to work with the ruddy stuff :cry: Anyway, the seasoned stuff sounds good, but however old timber is it will still take up moisture until it is balanced with it's surroundings. In other words, if you keep your timber in a cold/damp garage it will naturally take up moisture until the moisture content (MC) is the same as the place it's stored. When you finish the piece and take it in to a centrally heated house it will want to dry out fast and will split, crack etc etc. A simple solution is to store the wood in an enviroment similar to the one it will be in eventually. For pros this means they have a heated, dehumidified woodstore. For amateurs it generally means stacking it "in stick" (with 3/4-1" pieces of softwood between the boards to allow air flow) behind the back of the sofa or somewhere. You may need to hone your SWMBO sweet-talking skills for this :wink: You need to leave it for a while to acclimatise, but how long depends on where it was stored before. There's a message on #cough#UK Woodworking#cough# that will help with what you need to remember.
Sorry if this is "teaching you to suck eggs" but maybe it will help avert another disappointment. Also, it's gone miles away from your question :oops: Ah well, never mind. At least it's still about woodworking :wink:

Cheers, Jester
 
D`oh, never thought of that one, I think I`ve got one somewhere.....

cheers for the advise, as for stacking the wood behind the sofa........ i think I`d be in ALOT of trouble (she already barks about the sawdust being everywhere already..... yet she seemed to silence when i brought in the finished table.... funny that! :D )
 
Hi Steven

Are you sure there's nowhere that you can hide it? If you haven't got one of these modern divans you can stack a surprising amount of timber under a bed. If you have got a divan, why not have a go at building a traditional bed so that you can have a new hidey hole :wink: .

Yours

Gill

(A most sympathetic SWMBO)
 
being a keen guitarist also (therefore I need NOT remove any of my fingers at any point!! ***SAFETY FIRSTY****) i have miles of room under the bed...... but alas all is taken up with guitars, boxes, cases (and some woman stuff as well)

I do have an airing cupboard though............... :p
 
Hi Steven

Not the airing cupboard! Never, no way, no how! Would you store a guitar there? It's made of the same stuff.

Gosh, I can hardly type - my hands are trembling in horror at the prospect.

I have heard of timber being stored successfully in a well insulated loft with a dehumidifier but I'd rather try other alternatives first myself.

Yours

Gill
 
sorry, i was being VERY sarcastic!!!!!!!



ps does anyone like the picture I`ve choosen, you all seem to HATE norm, y??????


he inspired me into getting into woodworking, surely thats a good thing??
 
Hi Steven

Norm's approach is a can of worms best left unopened. Someone did so at

http://groups.msn.com/ukwoodworking/gen ... 6506936544

and it was discussed extensively. Can we leave it at this, please?

Yours

Gill

PS Can't you persuade SWMBO that it's better to have a few musical items and boxes lying around than timber? Especially if she's going to get some dedicated storage for her stuff as a result :wink: . Then you can comandeer the underside of the bed.[/url]
 
Steve,
I watch Norm all the time and I must admit I do learn from watching him but I don't agree with everything he does...

Now Gill I don't mind you posting links to MSN messages but where are your <cough> tags? tsk tsk.... :D
 
Hey Charley, I'd have thought she wouldn't have to cough 'cos she not management/moderator. Heck, we'd be coughing all over your 100 members otherwise everytime we mentioned anywhere. :lol: Congrats on that, BTW. Is now the time to mention that a certain "other place" #cough, cough, sneeze, sneeze# is nearing the 150 member mark? :p Nah, probably not :wink:

Cheers, Jester
 
I`ll talk the lady into donating some room under the bed (the guitars and boxes are staying though)


how long are we talking about for say 3/4 inch stock to "aclimatize" under a bed?????



p.s. respect to the man with 23 routers ...... that is norm

I wonder how many takes he has to film sometimes to miss all the "baws-ups" :p
 
Please excuse my ignorance.......

SWMBO?

Anyone know how moisture content relates to relative humidity. Noticed the idea of a dehumidifier in the loft. We use on to keep our conservatory dry in winter. Wondered how it would serve to acclimatise timber relative to the rest of the house.
 
Dr D,
She Who Must Be Obeyed

There's an interesting thread on using a dehumidifier in a wood store, but I think I've used up this week's quota of #cough# tags :roll:

Cheers, Jester
 
I take it that kiln dried timber is a big no no???????


or just VERY expensive
 
Yes sorry I take that back, I forgot Gill is only a member like me :oops: ...


Anyway Steve,

Kiln dried timber is a BIG yes yes :D but is more expensive :(

I've always bought kiln dried and stored it 'in stick' in my damp workshop and touch wood :roll: I havn't had a problem with projects splitting/warping I don't know if thats because the place I buy my wood from do a good job or I've just been lucky so far..
 
i know this is quite a contesious (spelling *grinz*) issue, but what sort of moisture content should I be specifying when buying kiln dried timber?

cheers

(nothing better to do @ work than learn about interesting stuff!)
 
last night i sucessfully managed to rip all of the savaged wood that have aquired from a mates house who has recently had a new set of stairs and banisters installed in his home.

The timber was littered with nails and screws, but i used a "cable/pipe" detector (as mentioned in posts above) and managed to avoid hitting any nails at all with my clarke table saw.

A big thankz to everyone, i would never of thourght of that idea, it worked like a treat.

as i have stated in posts before, whilst at university (reading electronic engineering) i had a summer job working at a local timber/tree surgery yard in my spare time.
The company is a registered professional tree surgery outfit (registered with kent county council) and thus gets a lot of work for forestry management and council property.
ANYWAY in world war II many many planes were shot down over kent (being on-route to london) and thus HUGE numbers of trees in kent are littered with shrapenel! heat tempered, very hard bits of metal :-(
The yard had a massive forester band saw (the biggest i have ever seen anywhere [and I`ve been to a few forestry demonstrations/shows and seen some pretty big ones!]) and on more than one occasion a perfecty good band was dame-near-ruined by such a lump of metal.

I suppose the moral is this -> you never can be too carefull
 
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