Robertson screw again.

[hutch--]

I have been generally impressed with the first batch of Robertson screws with a cabinet I am building for my kitchen so I have just received the second lot. The first were the lighter 8 gauge in a range of sizes, to do higher strength work I have just bought every size from just under 1 inch to 4 inches in the 12 gauge and these look good as well. They take a number 3 square drive bit. I have had trouble in the past using Phillips head screws in old hardwood as the best of driver bits suffer under the torque load and this is after pre-drilling it. I have in the past successfully use hex drive galvanised baton screws but they don't really have the right head design and the range of sizes is not good.

[dedndave]

pre-drilling hardwood is a little like machinist work - lol
you have to pick exactly the right diameter drill bit - that presumes you have a nice selection of bits
the torx heads aren't too bad - probably more expensive than the square ones, though
i wish you had posted this stuff a few years back, when i was enclosing that patio   :P
i used all phillips, there - however, it was softer wood - not so bad

[JHL]

Yeah.  My wife and I moved to an apartment ~3.5 years ago, and there went my workshop
of > 50 years.  I had a wall of screws in jars &c. and gave them to Habitat for Humanity.  Since
then, I've only been buying R screws, and only keeping R screws from whatever I have to
demolish.  I hate it when we buy some piece of furniture or apparatus that comes with some
odd size of P screws because they twist out as badly as slots and the R screws are really
hard to twist out unless the driver bit is really worn.  Here in Canada, the normal stock in
hardware stores is R screws (a Canadian invention; the original Robertson Screw factory
was here in Kingston, Ontario!).  Go Robertson!

John (JHL)

[hutch--]

John,

I learnt a trick back in my motorbike days with mangled phillips head screws, I used to use a socket extension bar that had a slightly curved end, put it against the mangled phillips slot then carefully hit it with a hammer to crush the mangled slot. Then use a hardened impact driver bit to reform the phillips slot and you could usually get it out again. Then you threw it away and replaced it with an Unbrako cap screw. It normally works OK on wood screw as well as long as you can get at the face of the screw.

[FARMER-OAK]

Why they even make a standard or philips srew head is beyond reason.
Robertson or a Torq head is best
Allen Hex Heads are cool too.

[MichaelW]

Why they even make a standard or philips srew head is beyond reason.

I agree, they were poor designs from the beginning.