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I was recently at a home center in desperate search of wood screws in large quantities (our local woodworking stores close far too early…or I work too late). All the home center had available in wood screws was two boxes of 50. That is not a large quantity when one is screwing kitchen cabinets together, adding drawer slides, etc. So I grabbed a hardware-area customer service person and asked if he had wood screws available in bulk, or any more boxes of 50 in stock.
No, he said, followed by: “Here’s a box of drywall screws; they’re exactly the same.”
Now I know how much people like to be lectured about their mistakes…so I tried to restrain myself. I tried, but out slipped, “No, no they aren’t.” He gave me a “look,” shrugged and said, “whatever,” then walked away.
It reminded me of two things:
This Nick Offerman clip and this article on wood screws vs. drywall screws that Glen D. Huey wrote some years back for Woodworking Magazine. So today, I posted the article free for you…and for the guy at the home center. Whatever.
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This evening I happened to watched an early episode (season 2?) of the New Yankee Workshop. Norm is building a rocking horse and using a whole bunch of drywall screws to assemble the rocking horse. I remembered reading this blog a few days earlier had a little chuckle. I wondered home many of us started learning about woodworking from the New Yankee Workshop. I know I did. I guess the guy at the home centre figured if its good enough for Norm it good enough ….
Megan, I was wondering… is there a list of U.S. manufacturers that heat treat their screws as was mentioned in the article, or are limited to Spax and McFeely’s?
Ok I will play the role of the contrarian. Yes dry wall screws in hard maple is a bad idea. So is any screw in hard maple without a pilot hole.
But for securing drawer slides and kitchen cabinets? I’m going to say dry wall screws will be plenty good enough.
But I do agree, Megan knows more than the “it’s in aisle 24” person.
Not really touting any retailer in particular, but there’s some useful info for NLightNMe at McFeely’s website…
http://www.mcfeelys.com/
Click on “Guide to wood screws”. I’ve also bought and had good success with their products.
Just sayin’.
The big box employees generally don’t know a heck of a lot, as is obvious from Megan’s article. I tried to get a 2’X4′ sheet of plywood from my BORG one day and found that the display “slots” had collapsed (lousy construction) to the point where it was impossible to extract anything. I grabbed an employee and took him to the area and pointed and explained that he won’t sell things that the customer cannot get out of the shelves and I got the same response…a shrug. Three weeks later my wife was buying potting soil and I looked at the area again out of curiosity and nothing had changed.
Thanks for the link to the article Megan. I’m running out of the utility screws I brought with me from England and the drywall ones I’ve bought here are too flimsy. Kreg pocket hole screws work well for some applications in addition to pocket holes, but countersunk-headed screws are different.
I like Spax screws, they are very nice wood screws and are sold in larger boxes. The nice thing with spax is they are toothed like a saw on the tip. They start better even in some hardwoods. Look for the green boxes.
Unfortunately, I think the answer you got from the store employee is all too common. Not only that, walking away and saying “whatever”, made me feel like I wanted to slap him silly. With that in mind, I also think you should have named the big box store in question. Unless they are held up in a public forum they are not going to correct this type of negligent behavior which could also be very dangerous advice depending on what it is for. I know your lawyers would have a bird, let them, I also don’t think anything could be done since you were just restating an experience that happened to you. I hope you at least reported the interchange with the store manager.
I’d give anything for a comprehensive, real-world usable guide to screwing things together. Seems like it should be a straight forward thing, but I never seem to get good results.
To quote Mycroft Holmes from the BBC “Sherlock” series season 3 “If you seem slow to me, Sherlock, can you imagine what real people are like? I’m living in a world of goldfish.”
I hate going to Low Depot.