Screws...Which Do You Use?

[Erik Christensen]

+1 for Spax & square drive - works for me

[Tom M King]

The trouble with square drive is that they go in good, but if want to get one back out, toss a coin. The Deckmate screws sold in Home Depot are good. I've been using them since they started selling them. They are called "star drive", but it's really a TORX. Other good brands like Spax, and the "star drive lags" sold individually in Lowes different lengths are good too.

One driver bit, good quality, will last through a one pound box of inch and a quarters. I don't know exactly how many screws that is, but we found out first hand last week when the guys ran in 10 pounds.

[pat warner]

For furniture and other showy apps:
SS socket head caps.

[John TenEyck]

I too have been using square drive (Robertson) for more than 20 years, and they are my preferred screw design. The Torx head screws are very nice, but selection around me is limited and they are more expensive. Plus they don't go on the driver as easily for me. Recently, I've been using a lot of Spax screws, which take both Phillips and square drivers. They are very strong (of course, they're German) and great when you are lazy and don't want to drill a pilot hole. Spax and Kreg screws now fit most of my needs.

John

[glenn bradley]

Pretty much covered here. I use square head for furniture (or slot for "show" locations) and torx or others for gorilla-torque requirements (mostly outdoors).

[Mark Andrew]

I use Pozidriv heads mostly. Plain Philips for junky stuff. The extra torque on a well-fitting Pozidriv is something to behold. The screws and tooling are much more widely available in Europe than N America, for some reason.

[Peter Quinn]

I use square drives for general cabinet assembly, specifically the assembly screws with the self drilling tip, coarse threads, nibs behind the head for self counter sinking. They are not sheet rock screws, they are tough, annealed so they don't snap under torque. I find they load a little quicker than star drives or torx heads and they fly in with an impact driver. For the tough stuff or long stuff I prefer a torx head or star drive. I like GRK's a lot, fasten master has some big screw/lags for construction type stuff, Simpson sells some lag equivalents that are like star drives on steroids, and those are great where appropriate, they may be made by spax if I read the box correctly.

[Derek Arita]

Thanks for all the replies. Appreciate all the feedback as I am not really familiar with either square or torks heads. I did get GRKs and Spax screws from HD and seem to feel that the bit did not go as deeply into the head with the torx, as with the square drives. I think that's what made me a little nervous about using them, however it seems from your feedback that no one seems to have a problem with them, so that's good. The little experience I've had with square drives has been that the bit goes deeply and tightly into the head, so I've always been impressed with them, however like I said, the guy at HD convinced me that torks was the way to go.

[Frank Martin]

I converted Spax (pozidrive) several years ago and really like them. One nice thing is they are available at HD for when you need it quick, in addition to mail order.

[sullivan mcgriff]

Being Canadian too I use the Robertson square drive, I have found some bits that don't have the right angle on them and are no end of trouble

[Cameron Hood]

I use Robertson screws all the time now. I learned my lesson when buying them however. I THINK that there is a difference between screws advertised as "square drive" screws and those labelled Robertson--maybe it is a patent rule or something. It seems to me that when I buy square drive, the edges of the square are not tapered. As a result, if you try to get a square drive screw to "stick" to the bit while holding the wood, it tends to fall off. If you use a Robertson, stick it on the bit and it is there--sometimes to the point it is difficult to get the bit off the screw when done. As a result, now I only buy screws that actually say "Robertson" on them.

[Ole Anderson]

I own a Jeep, therefore Torx are the bane of my existence. They strip out way too easily, at least in automotive applications where you're using a socket wrench. That said, I don't have experience with them in woodworking; it could be they're better in that kind of application where you're not having to loosen and tighten them often.

I hear you, no more Torx left on my CJ. For max grip on a bolt it is hard to beat a traditional hex head head machine bolt. But for wood, you don't need to worry about them rusting in place. Imagine if the Torx on your Jeep were slotted or Phillips or square drive, you would be even worse off. If you want the max torque on a wood screw you go to a hex head lag style. But even those are being replaced with high tensile steel Spax (Torx) style.

[Jim Becker]

I use square/Robinson drive screws from McFeely's.

[Jamie Buxton]

I use square/Robinson drive screws from McFeely's.

There have been some long threads on this forum reporting poor service from McFeelys since an ownership change early this year. Has your experience been better?

[Tim Janssen]

I use Pozidriv heads mostly. Plain Philips for junky stuff. The extra torque on a well-fitting Pozidriv is something to behold. The screws and tooling are much more widely available in Europe than N America, for some reason.

Thanks for that link, Mark.
I wasn't aware that there are that many different screw head configurations.
Regards,

Tim