right screws for attaching interior wood window stops

[soma_mom]

Silly question, but here goes.

I'm fixing broken ropes and doing other repairs on wood windows (circa

1921). I want to screw the interior stops instead of nailing them back to make it easier to do future repairs. What *exactly* do I need to buy/do? I've seen pictures with screws that have some type of nut below it, but they're painted over and I don't have enough experience to know what I'm looking at.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Mary

[donald girod]

If you are just replacing nails with screws, it really doesn't matter what kind you use as long as the length is reasonable. Appearance is possibly an issue. So-called "trim head screws" have a very small head (for a screw, anyway) and can be driven flush with the wood or below the surface if you wanted to fill the hole (bad idea, how would you find it?). They have a square drive so the are easy to remove if the drive socket doesn't get filled with paint. But if you are going to paint over any kind of screw, it is going to be hard to remove because it will get filled with paint.

I think the thing you have seen pictures of is a flat head screw with a special washer, sort of like a doughnut. The screw sits below the rim of the washer, and the whole thing can be brass. But if you paint these, again, the slot gets filled with paint. Thing is, you can always find the screw because it is sitting above the wood, and you can dig the paint out.

[*Casey*]

Hi, There's a very cool washer (from the early 1900's) that sinks the (round-head) screw below the surface of the stop; the appearance is flush, and the washer is slotted so the stop can be adjusted in/out as desired (tighter in the winter?). I think these would be worth reproducing. The importance of having the screws flush is realized when there are shades or venetian blinds; you don't want the blinds bumping the screws when going up & down. If you can't find these, you can use flat or oval-head screws in conjunction with "trim washers", that sit on the surface of the stop. You can elongate the screw hole in the stop to have a degree of adjustability, as above.

Casey