Next, think about where your project will be used. Will your project live indoors or outdoors? The threads are less aggressive, but there are more of them to ensure great holding power without splitting. For these hardwoods, choose fine-thread Kreg Screws. The aggressive threads tend to tear the wood fibers, resulting in splits in your wood. On the other hand, hardwoods like oak, maple, and cherry are too dense and hard for coarse-thread screws. Coarse-thread screws are also the preferred choice for sheet goods like plywood and MDF.įine-Thread for Hardwoods: Oak, Maple, Cherry, Birch, Ash, Walnut, Mahogany, Hickory Coarse-thread Kreg Pocket-Hole Screws work great for these woods. That means they need a screw with deep, aggressive threads that will bite into those soft fibers. Woods like pine and spruce, for example (known as softwoods), are soft and not very dense. Sure, with enough muscle and brut force, it's possible to force the head of the woodscrew down into the face of a pine board, ut this can cause some problems, like stripped heads on woodscrews, split wood grain, and extra wear and tear on your tools.The next question to ask yourself is: What kind of wood you are using to build your project? Softwood, hardwood, or plywood? When you know that, you can choose the correct screw thread type - either coarse or fine thread.Ĭoarse-Thread for Softwoods and Sheet Goods: Pine, Cedar, Fir, Spruce, Poplar, Aspen, Basswood, Butternut, Plywood, Particle Board, MDF, Melamine It's especially tempting to skip using a countersink bit when working with softwood and dimensional lumber. This small item is too overlooked when people want to make just a few quick and easy woodworking joints. It's amazing how much of a grip you can get from a woodscrew as small as 1/2." Believe it or not, It doesn't take a very large woodscrew to get that same level of clamping strength. With most types of joinery, the purpose of the woodscrew is to simply hold two boards together while the glue dries - with the same amount gripping power I might get from a wood clamp. However, this doesn't always hold true when joining wood boards. Maybe we assume that bigger is always better. I think we all have tendency to use woodscrews that are larger than they really need to be. But what you might not see happening is your board starting to split - from the inside out. Sure, you can put more muscle into the drill and sometimes get the woodscrew all the way in - sometimes. The first indicator that your pilot hole is too small is when your drill starts to strip the head of the woodscrew. When you try to be a little too careful to avoid the problem I mentioned above, you can find yourself with the reverse problem. You probably won't know this is happening till the head of the woodscrew goes into the board - at which point your woodscrew will spin loosely in the hole. As a result, the two boards you're trying to join will not be pulled together as tightly as they should. There's just not enough wood grain for the sides of the woodscrew to dig into. The problem is that you'll end up with hole that the woodscrew can't get a grip on. However, I think the tendency might be to choose bits that are larger than they need be. Here are a few of the most common problems you'll run into when things are not properly matched:įirst of all, anyone who has the forethought to drill a pilot hole first is at least on the right track. Let me know what you think of this chart! Bit choices for both softwood and hardwood.Covers both face joints and end joints.Actual-size diagrams make match up easy.My free downloadable drill bit chart takes the guesswork out of woodworking joinery by showing you the ideal combination for bits, countersinks, and woodscrews for the most common pieces of lumber you'll use in the shop. Finding the right size drill bit - to match the right size woodscrew - to match the right size board can be a challenge.
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