Had a frustrating end to my day of sawing. Last log was biggest I have ever had on the mill. Just about an inch or two over sized so had to do some edge trimming with chainsaw. first couple of slabs were ok then I began to hit metal. three different large nails in two different planes and a wavy slab just trying to get through it. These were my last re-sharpened blades. I only have a couple of brand new ones left until I sharpen and set teeth on current. I was too gun shy to put a brand new blade on to get a few more slabs since I hit metal on half my cuts so far. I was exhausted and this was the last log in my pile so I through in the towel and pulled the can't off the mill. I will make a bench or something else out of it but not going to burn another blade on it. Do people have a number limit on hitting metal before they quit or do you keep going?
If its my log it is off the mill the first sign of metal I see. I don't need or want the lumber that bad. If sawing for a customer I will keep sawing as long as they want to keep buying blades. :)
I'll try to dodge it, then if I hit metal, I will say a few unpleasant words, put on a sharp band and do my best not to hit it again. If I do it twice, then I've got nothing to do but blame myself and eject the log off the mill.
It all depends upon the value of the product coming from the log. Since I only custom saw, it's the customer's decision. Generally the limit is three blades. ($75)
No limit. If I hit a nail, get it out. Wand the log with the super scanner from Garrett. If I find them with the wand, use the axe to expose the head, drill around the shank, and pull it out. I had a 12ft Ash log with over 20 nails last year. I got them all out, and made all the 2x8's I intended to. The handful of logs that have metal, are balanced by many that don't. So I don't have much problem with it other than what it does to bands. I don't wand logs unless I suspect metal, or I've hit metal.
With Brad. First hit off the mill. Then use the metal detector to see how much metal is in log. Lay log in metal free zone. Check with metal detector. Decide to chop out metal, cut off end or discard for firewood. If firewood, buck in places that did not show metal. I can check a log in less than a minute. I do not want any lumber or cants in the mill that might have metal. Planers and resaws and chop saws do not like metal as much as band blades do not. It is a balancing act of deciding the value of wood that can be saved in the log and the extra cost of getting that wood. Good cedar is about $1.50 per board foot. The log has to come off the mill anyway and placed somewhere, so extra effort starts when I put the detector to the log. If 10 minutes work saves $15 in wood, that is $90 per hour return on time spent.
Put a pencil to it and see where you come out.
Very rare for there to be only one nail or one strand of barbed wire in a cedar log, so won't keep sawing when hitting metal.
I completely trashed two blades a few days ago. No one to blame but myself. I knew the metal was there. Old fence line, just didn't saw deep enough. One blade was already pretty much wrecked and the other was not new either.
Like others, if it's a customer log I'll trash blades all day as long as they keep saying yes. One guy had a limit of three blades for his walnut log.
For my logs, if it's walnut I will keep going. The price I can sell walnut for far outweighs the price of sharpening or even replacing the blade. Lesser value logs will usually end up as firewood after a few nails.
I dislike metal in logs as much as anyone. As magic said, sometimes the wood is worth alot....but so are blades....To deal with this conundrum, I use tired old blades. I collect them when the current batch starts breaking, (dont like breaking blades either). when Im down to 6 left of a box of ten, I start a new box and save them old ones for metal logs....sometimes they break but the cursing is much softer than when I hit a horse shoe with a new blade. ;D