Growing up I always thought there were only two types of screws, flathead and Phillips. Turns out there are many types, as shown in the picture below:
Phillips is probably what you are most familiar with, they have a X shape at the head of the screw. Thing is, these screws are not very good for woodworking. Often when using an electric driver and a Phillips screw in wood, the screw would find some resistance and the screw will stop going into the wood. When this happens often the head of the screw gets stripped with the “X” getting ground out. Then the screw driver will no longer fit and a special tool is needed to remove the stripped screw (and often even that doesn’t work).
The screw I almost always use is a Torx screw. These have a star shape on the head of the screw as shown in the images below.
With more points of contact and a better fit the screw driver or power drill never slips out. Using these type of screws I have never had the screw get stripped. The only thing I have had happen is that if I use too much force or the screw hist too much resistance the screw head breaks off. These screws come in various lengths and sizes. Also, when you buy them the necessary drill bit is usually included. A good set of 100 torque screws can be bought on Amazon here: Hillman Available 48594 Power Pro Premium Exterior Wood Screw, 8 X 1 1/4-Inch, 1 Pound, 8″ x 1-1/4″, 10 Piece
Another screw a lot of people say is good is the Robertson screw. These screw had a square shape on the end of the screw. In the US these screws are not easy to find, they are mainly found in Canada. I couldn’t find them in Lowe’s so I had to buy them online. I had never used them before but wanted to try them out.
I made a video comparing Torx, Robertson and Phillips screws to see which could go the furthest in a four by four before stripping. Torx screws went through the furthest, Robertson screws were second and Phillips screws were last (stripped the earliest).
Which screw type do you like best and why? Please let me know if the comments or e-mail me at lifehackanddiy@gmail.com.
Can you do the same test comparing a Robertson head (square)
I updated the video, it includes Robertson screws now.
There’s actually a flaw in your testing IMO. You used a square drive screw and bit from Amazon, and those are not true Robertson screws and bits. Yes, a lot of people call a square-drive a Robertson, but it really isn’t. A true Robertson screw and bit, bought from the Robertson company, is much better quality than the square-drives we find in the US. In your test, when you stripped the square-drive screw, it stripped because the bit kept coming out of the screw. True Robertson screws and bits will not do that. You can actually put a true Robertson screw on a true Robertson bit, and if you turn it upside down, the screw will not fall off the bit.