OK to use chipboard screws in ordinary wood?

[Christian McArdle]

I use them all the time. Quite frankly, if its got a thread, a pointed tip and a posidriv head, then I'll use it!

Christian.

[Bill Woods]

I tend to like using chipboard screws in ordinary wood because they are narrow and seem to have a sharp thread which lets them go in more easily.

I do no much like the old slotted screw, so I would usually use Supadrive/Pozidrive headed wood screws.

But now I am tending to prefer these Supadrive/Pozidrive headed chipboard screws.

Is there a disadvantage to doing this?

[Andy Dingley]

What's a "chipboard screw" ? If you mean the Screwfix Goldscrews (if they're still available), then they're perfectly adequate on anything. A _real_ chipboard screw though has an even finer pitch, usually by being a twin start thread (Screwfix's Quicksillvers). These are OK for most timber, but you'll get problems with the softest ones, such as western red cedar or hemlock.

The ones to avoid are drywall or plasterboard screws. They're brittle.

[bigcat]

anything. A

western

brittle.

I use those too, and self tappers. And occasioanlly flat ended ones with the coarse wood type thread (not sure what theyre called)

Any coarse thread screw can be used successfully in wood. PB screws may suffer a low level of breakages if you dont use a pilot hole, so I use them where Im doing a pilot hole, or less often in place where the occasional broken scrwe will be ok.

NT

[bigcat]

You can even use old drill bits in wood, hammer them in to use em as fixings, thats how tolerant softwood is.

NT

[Chris Bacon]

Hemlock is as hard as hell.

[Stuart Noble]

Pitch pine is a softwood......

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[TonyK]

Go on, admit it. You'll screw anything ;-)

[Dave]

Is there a quick way to find out what is brittle, ie hit the side with a hammer etc

Dave

[Mark]

Take 2 pairs of pliers and hold each end of a drywall screw. You'll be able to snap it no problem. Try doing that with a galvanized screw. You probably won't even be able to put a bend in it.

[Andy Dingley]

Like hell it is. It's harder than WRC and the Abies firs, or even poplar, but in a comparative scale of timbers commercially common in the UK, it's at the soft end of things. Even the pines are harder.

[SJF]

Yes!

From an engineering materials course, taken many years ago, I remember that the terms *hardwood* and *softwood* do not define the density or hardness of the wood. Rather, they indicate that the parent tree was deciduous (hardwood) or coniferous (softwood). Since this industry standard definition differs from common concepts, confusion abounds.

SJF

[Stuart Noble]

Yep. Balsa is a hardwood, but not a hard wood.

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[David Lang]

I use a lot of square hemlock stair spindles from Wickes in a regular job I do. I've never noticed it being especially hard. Machines beautifully - cheap source of decent hardwood.

Dave

[David Lang]

Hi Andy

No, just using them! I'm a magician with a love of woodwork. This has lead to me making a lot of magic props for other magicians, because (a) I know or will keep the secret of how they work and (b) I know what the magician wants to achieve.

I build quite a few head choppers or guillotines and I've found 900mm x 41mm x 41mm square hemlock stair spindles in Wickes. These are just the right size for the frame & mechanism (I don't have a thicknesser). Sorry, yes it is a softwood, but it does machine very well indeed and is much better quality than pine.

The quality and stable nature is crucial - warping can lead to large steel blades hitting spectators necks :-) Or even worse - the trick not working :-)

I used to buy mahogany (alledgedly), PAR to 40 x 40 but the cost was horrendous. The stair spindles are £1:99 each!

That sounds like more fun! Carpenters in the wild west must have made a fortune!

Dave

[Owain]

Must be fun renewing your public liability insurance every year ;-)

Owain

[David Lang]

Not if you belong to Equity :-)

Dave