Wood Screw Assortment Recommendations

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briankb

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May 30, 2013
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With my newly acquired Festool army I am kicking my woodworking hobby into high gear. Today was the first day in a long while that I did something useful in the shop. So a friend and I made this cross cut jig by Timothy at http://www.benchworks.be/ccjig.html

We used a nice piece of Purpleheart for the track and some plywood scraps for the other parts. The main issue was finding the correctly sized wood screws and we barely found what we needed in a misc drawer of screws.

My question for your veteran woodworkers is what screws should I keep on hand? Is there an assortment of wood screws I can order from McFeely's or McMaster or some other vendor that has already done all the work?

Thanks!
 
The last give away would have required you to spend $125 or $250.  If you can hold out wait until they do a sampler pack of screws or their 25-25-25, they do that fairly often.

Peter
 
I like screws that work with the countersink and drill bit that come in the Festool installers' kit. I think 3/4" to 1 1/4" #10 off the top of my head.
 
briankb said:
I got an email the other day about the GRK's they look very interesting. Can you drive those directly into hardwood without a pilot hole?

@Peter - Is this the 25-25-25 you were mentioning? http://www.mcfeelys.com/product/25-25-25/McFeelys-Most-Popular-Assortment or do they give those out as a promo item?

Those SPAX screws look awesome. How much of a premium are you paying to use the GRK or SPAX screws?
Click to expand...

Brian, before you attempt to drive any screw into hardwood without a pilot hole, try it on scrap from the same material.  My experience is that you will be better off drilling a pilot and waxing screws in hardwoods.  In some hardwoods like Ipe, Rosewood, etc. I would advise you to drill an oversize pilot hole and wax the screw.

Jack
 
The GRKs are great screws, but I wouldn't chance driving them into hardwood without a pilot hole on a project. That's just asking for  a split piece of wood.

Get the 1 1/4" Pan Heads for pocket holes. The 1 1/4" , 1 1/2"  Cabinet screws  are handy for attaching tops that need to be allowed to move. And a nice range of the R4s for everything else.     4 x 1,   6 x 1,   6 x 1 1/4,    6 x 1 1/2,    8 x 1 3/4,    8 x 2,   8 x 2 1/2,    9 x 2 3/4,   That will do most things without going broke on the initial purchase. You can add in more in between and overlap sizes as needed.

McFeely's  does have a free stuff and 1$ shipping deal going on right now. Not sure if its on the website. Might need to contact them and ask.

Seth
 
Overall the prices are  a little less here and they have more sizes available  http://www.buygrkfasteners.com/  But you have to factor the shipping.  Depends what you are getting and the quantity as to which works out better. 

I like to keep a running list  of screws that I am getting low on and also additional sizes that I want when applications for them come up. That way I have a big enough order to make it worth the shipping cost (depending on current deals) or I can tack them on to some other order. Without having to try to remember which ones I wanted.

Seth
 
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