[pianotech] Screws was Wood? (Straightening of.)

[jim at grandpianosolutions.com]

Thump,

< I remember when I first went to the hardware store to replace a 
vintage, Made in USA screw (with a bunged-up slot) with a modern one, 
only to find that its "steel" replacement wei
weighed only 1/2 as much!!! (What do they do, make these things 
"Air-Puff&#39;d" or something?) After 6 such screws broke off while 
trying to screw and glue a cover board back to the maple back post 
assembly in an upright, I switched to the star-drive deckers.

You can get good screws these days...you just gotta pay for them. For 
strength, sheer resistance and ease of driving, I've switched to 
http://www.mcfeelys.com/ for many applications including bridge to 
soundboard.  They are not threaded all the way to the head, so there is 
a clear, free, one-step pilot hole in the piece being screwed down. Deep 
threaded, straight shank..all in my opinion a great improvement over the 
vintage items. As well there are a whole raft of specialty application 
threads, shanks and heads.

I've bagged drywall screws since they are a complete crap shoot in my 
opinion, and though I have 'em, I only use them for some short term shop 
jigs and other non-picky applications...like...say drywall....(that is, 
when I actually have the bad judgement to actually hang a board of 
drywall<G>).  The lack of sheer resistance is my main complaint with 
these suckers, as their design was never intended for structural 
work...only jus' hang'in dry'all.

Jim Ialeggio



-- 
Jim Ialeggio
jim at grandpianosolutions.com
(978) 425-9026
Shirley, MA