Hello,

Lee Valley sells tap and drill bit "kits" for making threaded holes in hardwood for machine screws:

http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/pa...306,41330&ap=1

The claim that in their tests, the machine screws in threaded holes form a stronger connection than wood screws.

Has anyone tried this? I'm sure I'm not the only one that's had problems putting brass wood screws in certain woods, like White Oak. Even using steel wood screws to "tap" the threads can be problematic; I've snapped the heads off a #4 now and then. I think I might rather try it with a hardened steel tap instead. Heck, I've developed enough of a "touch" that I can avoid breaking a small tap even in something like stainless steel (usually!); I should be able to avoid breakage in wood. But it would only be worht it if the resulting connection was strong.

So would one still use tapping fluid?