Screw thickness in comparison to the wood
Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2023 1:48 pm
What is the consensus on here for screw thickness? In this forum, I've read about the different types of screws, fasteners, nails, etc...but haven't really come across screw thickness or is that not even a thing? For example, someone mentioned using a #8 screw and was adamant about finding deals.
Why not use a #6? (9/64 according to the american screw website) or a #5 or #10?
Does it depend on the thickness of the wood?
Do you ALWAYS need a pilot hole?
Thinking out loud, if I have a piece of wood and just a random screw (obviously logic is involved because I'm not using a 1/4 inch thick screw to screw into a 1/4 inch thick wood), I could just screw it into the wood no problem, BUT if I don't want the wood to crack then I would drill a pilot hole using a smaller drill bit than the screw. Now, to be a little more specific, if I have a 1x2 inch board (actual 3/4 inch x 1.5 inch) and I want to screw a wall to the 3/4 inch side, what size screw should I use? a #8 and pre-drill? or go smaller? I'm asking because I'm building my floor and floor flame and will screw my side walls to the 1x2 frame, specifically the 3/4 side. My side walls will be about 5/8 to 3/4 thick. I didn't want to go crazy with putting a crazy amount of screws because I'm paranoid of it not holding. Obviously, will use glue, PL premium/Liquid Nails/Gorilla...along with the screws.
I'm also asking because I'm going to the store in the next couple of days and buying box screws which I will be using for the rest of the build as well...spars, cabinets etc...I didn't want to buy a box of "wrong" screws lol. Thanks in advance.
Why not use a #6? (9/64 according to the american screw website) or a #5 or #10?
Does it depend on the thickness of the wood?
Do you ALWAYS need a pilot hole?
Thinking out loud, if I have a piece of wood and just a random screw (obviously logic is involved because I'm not using a 1/4 inch thick screw to screw into a 1/4 inch thick wood), I could just screw it into the wood no problem, BUT if I don't want the wood to crack then I would drill a pilot hole using a smaller drill bit than the screw. Now, to be a little more specific, if I have a 1x2 inch board (actual 3/4 inch x 1.5 inch) and I want to screw a wall to the 3/4 inch side, what size screw should I use? a #8 and pre-drill? or go smaller? I'm asking because I'm building my floor and floor flame and will screw my side walls to the 1x2 frame, specifically the 3/4 side. My side walls will be about 5/8 to 3/4 thick. I didn't want to go crazy with putting a crazy amount of screws because I'm paranoid of it not holding. Obviously, will use glue, PL premium/Liquid Nails/Gorilla...along with the screws.
I'm also asking because I'm going to the store in the next couple of days and buying box screws which I will be using for the rest of the build as well...spars, cabinets etc...I didn't want to buy a box of "wrong" screws lol. Thanks in advance.