Just saw this one today - and since I have split many "small" planks with nails, I was extremely interested in this one.

 

Great tips

 

 

Thanks, Fred!

 

My shop teacher taught me the flattened nail trick when I was in school. Still use it today! I keep a chunk of beeswax in the workbench drawer for lub. I wonder if soap would be better?

I like the guys presentation,  some good tips.   

Toilet bowl wax rings are great for screw lube. Stick your screws in it to keep them handy and lubed.

Most any wax is good to start screws and nails.  I don't know if soap would attract moisture setting up a situation for rust and corrosion.  

Back when I was a pup, the old timers used to drag the screws through their hair to lube them.  Folks didn't wash their hair so frequently then. 

2 hours ago, RedMGB said:

Back when I was a pup, the old timers used to drag the screws through their hair to lube them.  Folks didn't wash their hair so frequently then. 

Back when I was a pup, duck tails were in. The Brylcream in my hair coulda served a ten man shop. 

Like Gene I use a toilet bowl wax ring (buy a new one, they aren't expensive.....and smell much less offensive). I just did have to buy my second one, the first one really did a lot of screws for me.

Since I've sorta scaled down and, dont build a lot of stuff anymore requiring screws, I really don't need my toilet bowl ring any more. I'd like to bequeath it to someone. Slightly used and sawdusty but it still works.  Just pay shipping. PM me. 

Do we also get the little container it's stored in?????

53 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Do we also get the little container it's stored in?????

That's negotiable. It's a rare sized piece of Tupperware. Comes with a lid...if I can find it.

The easiest way to keep from busting a screw out the side of some thin wood is use pilot holes. These things I make have lots of screws in the back of a piece and the holes are very close to the sides of the wood...

 

 I have explained many time how I can get this close to the edge of the wood without having  to stop and worry about something I should have avoided to start with.... use sheet metal screws to start with for the diameter is the same size all the way to the point. I don't ever use tapered screws for they would cause too much trouble....Be glad to explain how I do these without any busting of the wood... Lots of steps on how to do these but not hard once you learn the sequence.  The correct size hole for the sheet metal screw you will be using is to hold the screw up to the light and hold a drill bit behind it and only a small amount of threads should show on each side of the screw. Ending up where the drill bit will be larger than the body of the screw but smaller than the width of the threads.... To me, the best thing to use on the threads is soap if you have a long long screw but on regular length screws the right size hole is the most important.

Good tip, I was attaching some Corian to a piece of wood.  The process was similar except once I had lined everything up and pre-drilled and countersunk my holes in the Corian I OVERSIZED the hole through the Corian so the screw doesn't break it when I use a screwdriver to tighten.  Sure you might get one or two in without doing it, but it only takes one to break a piece of Corian, shatter really.  And yes I learned the hard way long time ago.  Not a hold my beer moment but it was a seemed like a good idea at the time one.  

6 hours ago, Gene Howe said:

That's negotiable. It's a rare sized piece of Tupperware. Comes with a lid...if I can find it.

Hey I will give a deal on original box and plastic housing inside.

12 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Do we also get the little container it's stored in?????

It may have originally been stored under and recycled from..........

On 3/14/2020 at 7:43 PM, lew said:

Thanks, Fred!

 

My shop teacher taught me the flattened nail trick when I was in school. Still use it today! I keep a chunk of beeswax in the workbench drawer for lub. I wonder if soap would be better?

I have read that soap will corrode nails and screws over time, better to use wax.

 

On 3/15/2020 at 2:32 PM, Smallpatch said:

The easiest way to keep from busting a screw out the side of some thin wood is use pilot holes. These things I make have lots of screws in the back of a piece and the holes are very close to the sides of the wood...

  

 I have explained many time how I can get this close to the edge of the wood without having  to stop and worry about something I should have avoided to start with.... use sheet metal screws to start with for the diameter is the same size all the way to the point. I don't ever use tapered screws for they would cause too much trouble..

Thank you.   My friends like to tease me because the hair on the back of my neck stands up when someone says "pre-drill."   I think (pedantically) that you cannot "pre-"  drill a hole -- you either drill a hole or you do not.  I prefer to say that I drill pilot holes.

 

I'm reading some 1980s FWW and there was a slew of letters responding to a hint in a previous issue to use sheet metal screws instead of wood screws.  Some people commented that sheet metal screws (like drywall screws) are threaded all the way to the top so they don't draw the upper piece down to the lower piece.  I agree with this.   However 1980s wood screws were a lot different than the screws I use today.   The ones today have a constant diameter shank head to tip.  The ones back then had a fatter shank at the top.  My old combo pilot/countersink had a tapered drill bit to accommodate this; the newer ones just have a standard drill bit.  I think the difference is "cut" / "extruded" / "rolled" or something like that.   Here is what all my current ones look like: 

 

Here is about what the old ones looked like:

Edited April 2, 20206 yr by kmealy

Keith, too bad you didn't give it a long term experiment before you spread the rumor. First job I had was at a furniture store in 1954...they taught me to use soap for all the screws

 back then were slotted. oh there were phillips out there but no one had a phillips screw driver that would last especially trying to screw in to hard maple...

   

I have some screws that has been in wood for many years. I take them out each calendar year and give them another shot of some type of soap every once in a while and use all kinds of soap, liquid or bar at least once a year. Coated screws, chrome screws, and plain ole black screws that has nothing coated on them...I started using liquid soap on some for I thought if anything that would help make the screws fall apart from all that rust folks keep telling people that is what will happen. Wrong

   How many years do you think it would take to make your dream come true.  The only long term proof was we bought a bedroom suit from the furniture store that probably had soap used on the bed rails that had the same bed rails installed on the dresser to hold the mirror on that we always used.....This furniture was bought in 1961. Do you think this would be long enough to prove a point or do your think one should wait a few hundred more years. but wait,,, maybe they thought we might be trying to prove a point and purposely not used soap on that one bedroom dresser that they knew we would be buying some time later and they did that to screw up this rumor or what.... Oh by the way my experiment has been going on since I first tuned in to Wood On Line in the latter part of the 90's.

Toilet bowl rings are cheaper than soap! 

1 hour ago, Gene Howe said:

Toilet bowl rings are cheaper than soap! 

I don't think the soap I have in the shop is really going to work for this application.  Considering how much this stuff costs, I can buy several wax rings.

 

Now as far as getting your hands clean with this soap, YES.  But those with soft hands, maybe be careful it will be the equivalent to sandblasting them.  My wife picked up something greasy and asked to use it.  Said she felt like it had eaten away her skin.    Did have clean hands though.