I'm having trouble with wood screws breaking off under pressure (that is, when I'm screwing them in). I'm using steel wood screws, pre-drilling holes, and using white oak. They seem to be breaking off quite easily.
Are there better screws to be using? All local hardware stores seem only to carry steel.
Ideas?
Thanks.
Square drive screws, available from Rockler or McFeeley have a dry lubricant coating, which helps, but you can still break them. When working with very hard wood, such as the white oak you mention, I often scrape the threads across a wax candle before screwing them into the wood.
Try waxing the screws before driving them (paste wax or just rub them on an old candle).
Don't use soap, esp with steel screws. It attracts water.
Are you sure the pilot hole you're drilling is the right diameter?
djb
Wax. Beeswax works best, in my experience. Or paste furniture wax. Paraffin doesn't work as well.
John Martin
The diameter of your pilot holes may be wrong. The link is to a good chart that should get you in the ball park:
I would do the following:
Use the correct pilot drill bit first Use square drive screws Use fine thread screws-not course Use beeswax or candle wax to lube them. Do NOT use soap; they will rust faster than you would think.
Another thing to try along with or instead of lubricant is a hammer drill with driver bit. Use square or phillips drive screws.
You won't find a better material than quality steel.
Either you're not drilling your pilot holes large enough, or you're using inferior screws.
The pilot holes should be a trifle smaller than the solid portion of the shaft of the screw. Various charts are available showing the appropriate size of pilot hole to use, depending on the size of the screw and the material it's being used in. Note that a pilot hole that's appropriately sized for, say, a #8 screw going into pine or fir, is too small for the same screw in white oak.
Check the packaging on the screws you're using for the country of origin. If it's China or India, the screws are definitely inferior. Best in my experience are ones made in the USA or Canada. Where are you buying your screws, at a home center (e.g. Lowe's, Home Depot), or a real hardware store (e.g. Ace, Tru-Value, etc)? I have much better luck finding American or Canadian made fasteners at the real hardware stores. Most of what the home centers have is junk.
It also helps to lubricate the screw threads with wax before driving them.
-- Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?
I've had trouble with cheap steel screws from places like HD, having exactly the problem you describe. After getting screws from Trend-lines and most recently, McFeeley's, I have yet to break a screw. IMO, there is a difference in quality.
On 13 Dec 2003 10:51:14 -0800, im_in_the_mood snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Mike) brought forth from the murky depths:
Are they cheap import screws? Give McFeelys a call/web visit for better quality screws.
Sure you're using the correct size bit for the screw?
Try using some paraffin on the threads as you install them.
-- Save the Endangered ROAD NARROWS! -|-
thanks for all the replies/advice, i appreciate it!
You didn't save the handy dandy drill bit guage that Handyman Club of America sent you? I have an extra I could send you if you missed that one...
Don't know if this is an official Wreck-endorsed practice or not, but I'm finding I really like Johnson's as a screw lube. (Johson's paste wax, not Johnson and Johnson's KY Jelly, get your mind out of the gutter.) I just poke them into the cake and zip them in. I have no idea what sort of long-term effect this might have, as the solvent might never evaporate. Doesn't seem to be a problem though, and they sure do go in easier.
Very necessary when driving teensy brass screws into hardwood, in order to get the screw down tight and avoid destroying the head.
The thing I usually use is a toilet ring. Wax, cheap (I think I paid 89 cents for the last one), usually gets lost (or tossed by my wife) before it comes close to being used up, stores easily on a nail in the wall (it's when I leave it lying around that Frances tosses it, so the nail in the wall was a new consideration).
Jim Ray has some good stuff in a tube, too, Pawtucky? Check McFeely's.
Charlie Self
"Man is a reasoning rather than a reasonable animal." Alexander Hamilton
Bad idea to deliberately introduce moisture. Saliva isn't much of a lubricant, either. Paste wax or paraffin is a much better choice.
-- Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?
On 14 Dec 2003 11:36:31 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@aol.comnotforme (Charlie Self) brought forth from the murky depths:
I keep meaning to try that.
Why? It's been comfy there for several decades now.
Didja know that there has been no wax in those things for a decade? It's all synthetic now.
Yeah, I saw that stuff and wondered about it.
(When are you going to pull those thirty carriage returns off the tail end of your sig, Charlie?)
--- - Sarcasm is just one more service we offer. -
Try a size larger pilot hole or wax the threads.
Don't try, do.
Because if you put KY on your screws, it will introduce moisture, you dolt!
Is that true? I just re-did a crapper a couple years ago, and I'd swear it was wax. Most of the ones I've seen are some kind of foamy gooey stuff, but this looked just like the 30 year old thing that I pulled off. Only with less shit on it.
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