Using the correct type of wood screw is necessary to prevent damage to the wood that your attaching the screw to. Furthermore, using a correct type of wood screw will ensure that the joints created by the wood remains strongly. Many people makes the mistake of damaging the wood by using the wrong type of wood screw.
Using the wrong type of wood screw can cause the screw head to strip against the wood or cause the wood to split. Using a wood screw size chart will help you to select the correct gauge for the screw, the length of the screw, and the size of the pilot hole that you must drill into the wood. Using a wood screw size chart will remove the guesswork involve in determining the size of the screw that you need for a specific project.
How to Choose the Right Wood Screw
Wood screws comes in many different gauges. The gauge of the screw determine how fine or how how thick the threads of the screw are. The smaller the gauge number of a screw, the finer the threads of the screw.
Small wood screws, such as #2 screws, have fine threads and are used in situations where you embed the screw into thin wood or wood that is soft to the touch, such as pine. Large wood screws, such as #16 screws, have thick threads and are used in situations where a screw must exert a strong amount of pull-out force from the wood, such as screwing two piece of wood together to create a framing project. When using a wood screw, it is necessary to drill a pilot hole into the wood to prevent the wood from splitting due to the screw penetrating the wood.
The size of the pilot hole that you drill depends on the type of wood that you are using. For softwoods, such as cedar, the pilot hole should be approximately 70 percent of the diameter of the shank of the wood screw that you plan to use. Hardwoods have denser fibers than softwoods and you should drill a pilot hole that is approximately 90 percent of the diameter of the shank of the screw that you will use.
Wood screw heads comes in many different styles and each of these styles affects the appearance of the screw embedded in the wood. Flat head wood screws are designed to sink flush into the wood. They are often used in applications such as tabletops in which you dont want the screw heads to be visible.
Bugle head wood screws have a tapered screw head that allows them to easily enters the wood. These types of screws are often used for wooden decks. The drive type of the wood screw will affect how well the screw remains attached to the drill bit that you use to insert it into the wood.
Slotted wood screws have an older drive design that is likely to slip from the drill bit. In contrast, star drive wood screws will hold the drill bit firmly to the screw and will not allow the drill bit to slip from the screw as it is being driven into the wood. The type of wood that you use will determine which type of wood screw you select and how you use that screw.
Plywood is a type of wood that is more forgiving of mistakes in screw placement and penetration than dense wood like oak. With oak, especially dense knots of oak, you must pre-drill the screw into the wood to prevent it from splitting. Furthermore, if you are using composite decking, you must use wood screws that are specifically rated for use on composite decking.
Wood screws that are not rated for composite decking can cause the composite decking to swell and fail. Finally, the wood screw must have the appropriate type of coating if it is to be used outdoors. Wood screws with zinc coating are used for sheds, but wood screws with stainless steel coating are necessary for docks so that the screw does not corrode due to exposure to salt air.
There are a few ways in which you can make mistakes when using a wood screw. To avoid these mistakes, follow a few simple rule. First, do not use a screw that is too short for the thickness of the wood that you are attaching the screw to.
The screw must penetrate at least two-thirds of the way into the base piece of wood. Second, do not apply too much torque to the screw when you are driving it into the wood. This can lead to the screw crushing the fibers of the wood.
Third, apply wax to the threads of the screw. This will allow the screw to glide more easy into the wood. Fourth, hold your drill bit low when you are driving the screw into the wood.
Finally, increase the torque that your drill bit applies to the screw until the screw is correctly seated into the wood. If you maintain a stock of wood screws in gauges #6 through #10, you will have enough furnitures to complete a variety of projects such as cabinets, fences, and furniture.
