What make/type wood screw is everyone using

[^woody^]

I've gone right off [Screwfix's Quicksilver] twin threads now, and prefer the Turbo Golds for grip, no splitting and no pilot drilling.

I wondered if its worth looking at any of the other makes/designs like Spax, KTX, Reisser etc.

Do any other screws have any real advantages over the Turbo Golds?

 

[dav]

Generally use screwfix gold or sometimes turbo gold. Also use Reisser screws which I find better for hardwoods and when screwing into endgrain and/or very close to the end/edge.

 

[Doctor Drivel]

Phillips screws were designed to cam out as a torque limiter. Posidrive was designed not to cam out and the screwdriver head penetrate further into the screw body to avoid the head being sheared off. Have the driver at a sharp angle and you get cam out.

The best screw head around is the Winzer Wurth torq head, which will accept a driver at any any angle with no cam out

We have all gone over to PosiDrive, which is better than slotted screws for drill/driver work. Alas there are better around. I wish torg heads were more common and taken up replacing PosiDriv.

 

[Thermo]

i use the toolstation ones, never had a problem with them.

 

[Hitachimad]

Spax use torx heads.
Nice for bigger size screws.

 

[Jasonb]

In the larger sizes I tend to use SF Goldscrews, in smaller sizes (3.5 or less) I use Reissers but not the R2 Cutters.

Have used a few boxes of the KTX which seem quite good, posi bits don't seem to grip so well in them and the supplied KTX bits are too long to work in a magnetic holder

Only use square (Robertson) drive on Kreg screws when useing pocket holes.

Jason

 

[^woody^]

Is there any big difference between bright plated or passivated in terms of moisture/weather resistance and longetivity?

BTW, what is passivation?

 

[Deluks]

...and what is sheradisation?

 

[xerxes]

Sherardisation is a process for coating screws (or other steel hardware) with zinc by exposing it to vapourised zinc. This process does not seem to be used nowadays: presumably it is too expensive or too difficult to control the resulting emissions.

I still have a large stock of old slotted sherardised woodscrews; if stored properly they keep their condition well, and stay corrosion free in most uses (much better than bright zinc plated screws do). They need to be lubricated properly, or they don't drive well.

(Quite a few of my older stocks of zinc plated woodscrews are corroding in their packets.)

'Passivated' is, I assume, a more general term for coating an item with zinc, cadmium, etc. in order to provide some cathodic protection. But I'm sure someone with a proper technical knowledge of the process could explain it more precisely.

I use goldscrews for most general work, and other screws as appropriate: brass, Spax stainless steel, ...

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I was just about to post a new topic about KTX, and I thought "I'll do a search first", and lo!....

Does anybody have an update on KTX after using them for a while?

I picked up a small sample pack at a show yesterday - haven't tried them yet. The guy on the stand said they were as good as Spax. (Well, he aint gonna say they're as good as Goldscrews, is he? ).

I need to buy a bunch of various sizes, gone off the S'fix rubbish, and Reissers are a reasonable price at Toolstation.

But I wondered about KTX. Not sure I want to faff about with a different bit design though, even if they do give them out for free, particularly as it means I couldn't just top up any compartments with Pozi head screws in.

EDIT:

Just looking at the flyer I got - t says you can use Pozi drivers on them. The guy in the stand did say something about that but I thought he said you could use their bit on Pozis, not the other way around...

So - bonus question - does anyone know how well they work with a Pozi head driver?

 

[seaangler]

So - bonus question - does anyone know how well they work with a Pozi head driver?

pretty sure you can use either the KTX bit , pozi or square

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Guess I'll try them wth a Pozi and see.....

 

[Bilioustrumpstaine]

I need to buy a bunch of various sizes, gone off the S'fix rubbish, and Reissers are a reasonable price at Toolstation.

Toolstation only keep the R2 Cutters by Reisser, you can get standard Reissers at Howdens.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I know.

What's wrong with R2s? Had those before I bought replacement goldscrews/turbogolds for some sizes, don't remember there being anything wrong with them....

 

[neds]

The R2 cutters are a bit dearer. I do like using them they are very similar to the Turbo Golds. I have no problem with the quicksilver screws either. I end up buying the trade packs which are very good value.