"A-Z" INDEX & SEARCH

Woodscrews for Making Beekeeping Kit

There are various types of wood screw that are becoming more popular in the assembly of hives and even frames.

The use of power driven screwdrivers and electric drills for pilot, clearance and countersinking have brought the time factor in their use to a level little more than the use of nails. The consequent increase in durability of the assembled kit more than offsets the increased assembly time and reduces future maintenance.

Twinthread Screws

These are mass produced by fully automatic machinery. They are consistent in quality and inexpensive. The double helix only requires half the number of turns to insert, compared to single start threaded types.

Stainless Steel Screws
Stainless Screw

Less likely to corrode and harder than conventional types. Their usefulness is offset by a considerably higher price.

Chipboard screws

These are characterised by the small core diameter and sharp lands. They are good for beekeeping kit as they only require a small clearance hole which the sharp thread pulls itself through. They are often made of harder grades of steel than conventional wood screws. They are often finished black or grey.

Dry Lining Screws
Plaster Board Screw

These have a thin shank and a self cutting point that enables them to be used without a pilot hole or a very small diameter one. They are often bugle headed and thus do not require countersinking.

Screw head Shape
Screw Heads

There are a multitude of types of head... Countersunk (1), Round Head (2), Cheese Head (3), Pan Head (4), Bugle Head (5), Dome Head (6), Instrument Head (7) and System Zero Head. (Of these, Cheese Head and Dome Head are rare in wood screws.)

Screw Driving Recesses
Screw Recesses

(1)... Slotted, (2)... Phillips, (3)... Posidrive, (4)... Cequatre or Square Drive, (5)... Allen Socket and (6)... Combination.

It is important that both the type and size of screwdriver is correct otherwise the recesses become damaged which promotes wear on tools and makes removal difficult.

Plating using zinc or cadmium and occasionally copper is the normal way of rendering the screws less likely to corrode.

Passivation copper plating is sometimes oxidised black. zinc is usually finished bright, but cadmium can be finished bright or chromatic (a greenish yellow).

Parkerising and staining are dealt with on the Nails page.

Pilot Holes are essential in hardwoods and should be equal to the mean core diameter. Insertion is made easier by the application of Petroleum Jelly to the threads.

Clearance Holes should be the same diameter as the screw shank.

Clearance Holes and Pilot holes can be drilled at the same time using a drill that is ground to a different diameter for a portion of it's length. A depth stop collar with countersinking cutter is also fitted so that repeat operations produce identical borings in one pass.

Countersinking or counterboring should be employed wherever the head shape dictates the need.

					Originated... 27 September 2001, Revised... 14 July 2003, New Domain... 17 May 2004, Upgraded... 17 August 2004,

Woodscrews for Making Beekeeping Kit

Originated... 27 September 2001, Revised... 14 July 2003, New Domain... 17 May 2004, Upgraded... 17 August 2004,