# It's was bound to happen



## jcash3 (Dec 15, 2007)

While i was planing some cherry that i got from a local wood mill last year, I found a little surprise. I think it's a .22 bullet, might be a .38. But i'm lucky it was a lead round and not copper or steel jacketed. My planer left it pretty smooth, and didn't damage my knives. I know the guy who owns the mill and he does run a metal detector over the wood before cutting it. I now know what my next purchase will be.
It was about 4" to 5 " into the wood, so i'm figuring it was shot into the tree 30+ years ago.


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## sIKE (Feb 14, 2008)

Sheeze!


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

Wow. That is one nasty surprise.

thanks for the post.


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## RyanShervill (Dec 18, 2007)

Acually, the lead is softer than the cherry, and even copper jacket is awful close to hardwood. You won't hurt your knives hitting most bullets (but watch out for nails!)

Thats actuallly a cool find, maybe you should work it into a box top or something!


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## rikkor (Oct 17, 2007)

Does a metal detector pick up non-ferrous metal?


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## Mario (Apr 23, 2007)

That is cool, I did not realize that the slug was softer than the wood, Thanks Ryan. I also would love to have a metal detector.

Thanks for the post.


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## DannyBoy (Oct 26, 2007)

I would definitely make this "defect" a feature in a piece. Just imagine the story you could tell about it!


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## ChasHutch (Mar 24, 2008)

Could be a great story…

"While I was building a cherry toy box for an orphanage, a crazed, masked gunman burst into my shop waving a .38 around. It was my good fortune to be planing a length of cherry wood at that exact moment. As the gunman aimed the pistol at me, demanding that I teach him how to make hand-cut dovetails, I was able to jerk the peice (safely, of course) off of the planer, swing it around baseball bat style, just as he pulled the trigger. The wood not only stopped the bullet from hitting my chest but, the recoil of the shot hitting the board pinwheeled me around and the board smacked the crazy masked man upside his head. This rendered him unconscience long enough for me to bind his hands and feet with an extension cord." Or something like that.


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## GaryK (Jun 25, 2007)

Very interesting. This is first I've heard of something like that.


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## smoknn (Mar 26, 2008)

i can relate. i was cutting down an old hackberry tree that had grown to close to a fence. when i started cutting with my chainsaw,, i kept hitting something toward the heart of the tree just ruining my blades. so we got out a smaller 9 inch chain saw and started whittling at the trunk…..a damn metal fence post!! apparently whoever planted years ago had used it to keep the trunk straight as it grew. being left behind the tree just grew around the post!!


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## croessler (Jun 22, 2007)

I think Rikkor had the most pertinent question:

"Does a metal detector pick up non-ferrous metal?"


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## Tangle (Jul 21, 2007)

Will a metal detector pick up lead?


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## AdMarkGuy (Jan 1, 2008)

Makes finding a pit in your cherry take on a new meaning!!


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## coronet1967 (Aug 2, 2007)

about 5 years ago i was having a poplar tree milled and in the 3rd 12 foot log there 1.5 inches of a #20 nail it was about 4 cuts in so it had been there for a while.

my sawer at the time said that he had found railroad spikes, horseshoes, and in the crotch of a walnut tree he found a model A carburator.

never know what will be in a tree they have been around a long time and have lots of history to tell

jay angel


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## jcash3 (Dec 15, 2007)

yes, most will pick up no ferrous. anything from iron, steel to lead silver and gold. Most hand held metal detectors work on the same principle that the long ones that people use to find jewelry, coins, and lead rounds on battlefields. ferrous just means that the metal contains iron and is magnetic.
The guy i got the cherry from uses a large metal detector like you see people using on a beach or battlefield. i watched him use it the day he milled the log for me, but i'm guessing it was just too deep in the tree to register something that small.


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## Brad_Nailor (Jul 26, 2007)

Thats pretty cool…I would definatley work that into the piece!


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## Quixote (Jun 9, 2008)

I remembered reading this post back in my lurking days and I thought it was pretty novel.

Until this weekend when I was planing some barn oak.

My metal detector did find the round, and I started to dig it out but then I remembered how the lead was softer… so i let it run.

It's near the end of an eight foot piece, planed to 3/4" by 7"

Now to decide what to do with this piece…

Q


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## SteveKorz (Mar 25, 2008)

This would be a fun project to watch… when you post it, make sure to liink this topic…


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