I was a carpenter for close to 10 years before an old guy offered a bit of knowledge I'm so glad he told me this. Always listen to everyone because they might know something you don't.

That is what the right part thread screws are for. If you misuse a full thread screw or the wrong part thread screw you need to predrill.

You just need to make sure the smooth shaft of the wood screw is as long as the thickness of the top pice of wood.

I taught my neighbor this technique about a week ago. He’s 85 and didn’t understand why the screws were loose on his projects. Good to see you again Rob, sharing the knowledge as always. Your best trait is acknowledging and sharing improvements in your methods, approach, and techniques. Nicely done!

I never knew that. Now that I do, I can’t believe I didn’t.

You can accomplish the same thing by turning it in, back if off slightly and then back in again.

As an electrician with a love for carpentry and cabinet making, these are the tips that I think have real merit for lots of trades. Thank you 🙏🏻 Rob

get self tapping wood screws, they come with a slightly oversized reamer section to keep the shank from binding on the top part

Seem like a good teacher. I’ve worked with many people that don’t know how to teach their craft. 😂

Im always surprised when the guys in my shop don't get this.

Depends the screw that you use, there are some with flat collars that are made for this purpose and don,t require the second drilling.. it kind of depends on your use case

Wow, I've been doing this wrong. I always drilled the screw into both pieces, unscrewed then drilled the screw back in. During the initial pass the screw would sometimes push the second piece of wood apart from the first before taking. The second pass would make them much tighter since the hole was already drilled out. Your method makes more sense.

Dang I remember my master telling me this at the shipyard, good times

I suggest making the 2nd drill only half way, especially when the bottom wood is too thin or the screw isn't long enough.

Can I just say thank you for this! I’ve often been frustrated at my lack of woodworking skills!

I had to bite down on my joint pretty hard once,🤪

Thank you! Tried into studs and this fixed it!

This is a great tip. If you search for some good quality screws, you will see that there are some screws that actually don’t have threads the first half inch or so next to the head to help accomplish the same.

Literally learnt this the other day, it’s amazing. It’s called a clearance whole and obviously the second is a pilot. I was told the pilot hole is not necessary on softer woods but I assume that’s more for construction not joinery

Thanks so much for this! I was putting together a wooden shed and struggling to get the panel to fit tightly together until I saw your tip. What a difference - its like magic!

Ah, that makes sense - I had a feeling something was wrong last I did that. Guess I'll have to do this or use the screws with the naked neck.

Stunning how few people don't understand this basic concept.

Some better countersink bits do all of this in one step forget what brand it was. Maybe Montana. I use step bits to do this in metal work to keep things aligned.

Good trick brother, I'm a glazer And I work with metal all day, you always want A clear hole on the 1st piece and a pilot hole on the bottom piece, if not the you wil cause a jack screw effect which will cause the two pieces to separate or move your top piece off your original layout, Keep up the good work brother And don't pay any attention to the negative comments.

When people try to screw 2 boards together without predrilling and they won't pull together leaving a gap it's known as "Bridging".

In Orthopaedicis we call it “lag screw”! This is the only way to achieve interfragmental compression between two pieces of bone, in order to stabilise the fracture. Greetings from mount Olympus, Greece. A retired Orthopaedic Surgeon!

I'm an orthopaedic surgeon and I do woodwork as a hobby. This is a standard technique called lagging and we routinely do this on a regular basis to achieve compression between two broken pieces of the bone we're fixing

A lot of people already said this but I'll say it again, buy wood screws that have a smooth shaft at the top. Save yourself some time.

At age 74 I never realized that anyone would NOT know that.

What kind of drill bit did he use? It left a wider screw head shaped hole after he drills with it.

This is %100 correct !

I saw all the wood shavings and was about to blow at the screen:D

I usually used partially threaded screws, works the same. less the hassle

Good to see this, after 40 years, I finally learned this. Then wanted to confirm and saw your video. Thanks for the confirmation!

Thank you, I didn't know it either. But now thinking about it, it makes sense.

I do it like this for years, but I had some doubts to this technique because I rarely see anybody else do it like this.

Nonsense.

Impact driver go brrrrr though

Nice Rob. This info is so invaluable and must always be relayed. Good on ya. Basic, basic construction awareness.

Makes sense. Thanks for the tip and for passing on the knowledge.

Yep! It's amazing how many times I've seen people try screwing both together

Or, you know, get the right screws for the job

the patches are amazing...the tip for the great joining is nice too

Great info actually, wouldn't have considered this

Rob, you mean a slightly larger "drill bit", not a drill. A drill is what you chuck the drill bit into. Good tip though

Subscribed!

As a journeyman carpenter/ fine woodworker you are correct, however there are tools out there that counter sink and drill a through hole, Check a high quality store that carries cabinet and door handles

THANK YOU, I JUST LEARNED A VALUABLE LESSON

At last someone doing it correctly, this was the way that I was shown when I was an Apprentice and it's still the correct way!!!!!!!

man got the uncircumcised screwdriver

You are absolutely correct. My awesome middle school shop teacher taught me this 60 years ago. Some bits already do this for you.

WOW! Been doing it wrong for years! Amazingly simple Thank you

I found a nice deck screw that is 2.5 inch and has about an inch at the head with no thread to fix that problem kind of when I am playing with planed 2x4 wood. I bought the huge box of them for $50 at Lowes found on the bottom shelf. It would be nice to find that style in 2 inch and 1.5 inch

This is great. Genuine thanks for sharing this

If I don't have a screw that has a shaft I just back it out and screw it back in and repeat until the two boards are tight

Rob, you are teaching me things I should know but have never been shown, thank you!

THANK YOU!!!!

you can also get countersink that do it for you

well, that's why there are screws with thread ending a way below a screw head.

That's why some screws only have thread 2 thirds of its length.

Thank you

I was one of those people who did not realize this. My blood pressure went down after watching this video. All this time. SMDH

I just overtorque through the first piece rather than swapping bits

Rock of the Marne!

Well oh right. Now I know. Thanks

If the amount of thread is significantly more in the second piece of wood than the first then, with softwoods in particular, the bite on the end of the screw will overcome the bite in the first piece and strip it..

Those pocket hole bits work great for this

Next time I build furniture, I would use this method but, my preferred method of driving a screw is an impact driver to make sure it goes nowhere and I love the chattering noise of an impact driver just sink it down and let it chatter for about 180 milliseconds. If the material or screw is too weak for an impact, I will use an installation driver or a drill with the clutch set.

I had no idea! Thank you.

Damn this makes sense now, learn something new everyday, been doing all kinds of construction like 10 years lmao

Guess it depends on the size of the wood and screws. Big wood screws will pull wood together no problem in my experience.

Did anyone else try to blow the sawdust away while he was speaking?

it can bite a little, as long as it doesn’t bite as hard as it does in the second piece it will pull tight.

just like the old timer taught me 32 years ago it never changes because it’s right

A great tip. 👍👍

Please use Torx TX screws, dear folks on the other side of the Atlantic..!

I just back it out and re screw. This video shows the best way though

In English what do you call people that think they know better than an obvious expert without properly appreciating the advice? In Dutch we call them "eigenwijs" .

Absolutely

If the concept of a clearance hole is not obvious to someone, maybe they better bake a cake, and give up wood work.

Nt have to do this a quicker easier way is when you notice a gap just back the screw back and then go back in now there's proper threads in the second piece

So. That's the reason! Thanks👍

Yeah I learned that the hard way with lag bolts into ceiling joists for s*x swings. Gotta drill first for the shaft of the threaded portion, then again for the diameter of the smooth shaft of the lag bolt. Also, getting a 1/2" drive impact driver for those bolts instead of a socket wrench with a cheater bar.

Now I know what went wrong! - if only I had watched this before attempting my project. (Now …to google how to get a stripped screw out of the incorrectly attached wood pieces of my bungled first attempt. 😂)

Would you do that to attach studs together? The wood seems tender enough to avoid the pre drill.

...and you can also buy 'partial thread' screws, but do not be surprised if you struggle to get PT screws shorter than 50mm - Toolstation (in the UK) advertise them and send you full thread - I sent back 3 boxes and their 'help desk' didn't understand what my complaint was. Please God give us back old wise men working in the hardware industry.

That's why the threads don't go all the way to the top leaving a shank on the screw.

I have never really had an issue getting a nice tight and solid joint before; but I've only been doing carpentry and construction for 25 years what do I know

Solid info tks

Is that a Robertson/Phillip hybrid?!

ahhh, thank you

Who else tried to blow the wood chips off the board after drilling the first hole?

Great!

Yet again I'm embarrassed by my lack of knowledge

Sorry that's wrong. At least as a general claim for absolutely all situation. It's really simple: by predrilling the upper board / material, you reduce the material, that will allow both pieces and the screw to provide the force / newton meter necessary to bring the countersunk head below surface. Your piece of solid wood in the video would split without pedrilling of course and there are other good reasons to predrill. But as wood became super expensive most people can't afford solid wood. Even OSB, MDF and chip board prices have gone crazy. So, most DIYers reality nowadays is screwing boards. I'm doing that sh#t on and off for more than 40 years. And I remember very well when the bs about half threaded screws hit the markets 30-35 years ago.

Expert blowing technique

That’s witchcraft 😂

Are you planning to fix the editing on your wooden hinge tutorial?

9 of 10 people don't know this.

Many types of screws solve this by having no threads below the head