Most woodworkers think about holding power when they choose a wood screw. They want a screw that creates a strong joint in their project’s material, whether that’s hardwood, softwood, or a man-made board like MDF or particleboard.
Professional and assembly line woodworkers also have to think about labor efficiency. How long does the screw take to install? Does it need a pilot hole, or can it be driven in a single operation? Will it split the wood and force a do-over? With the right woodworking screw, holding power and labor efficiency don’t have to be in tension.
Which Wood Fasteners Provide the Strongest Holding Power in Wood?
Holding power in wood comes from a screw’s withdrawal or pull-out resistance. Screw threads bite into wood, and the screw head exerts a clamping force on the material. A joint holds so long as the external load doesn’t exceed the thread’s pull-out resistance.
A wood screw’s pull-out resistance depends on the interaction between the threads and the material. The threads have to grip enough of the wood’s fibers to develop a strong hold. Different woods have different densities and fiber structures, so wood screw threads are designed to work best in a particular material type.
Softwoods and Most Man-Made Boards
Low-density materials like pine, plywood, and MDF give the screw less to bite into, so they need a deep coarse thread that connects with more of the fiber. For example, Deerwood’s Zip Driver assembly screws have the Lo-Root deep thread, which is perfect for soft and manmade materials.
Hardwoods and Tougher Engineered Materials
Dense-fibered woods resist coarse, deep threads. The screws are harder to drive and run a greater risk of splitting the wood, leading to damaged material and increased labor time. The ideal screw thread has more tightly spaced and shallower threads. The trade-off is that fine-threaded screws take longer to drive.
Deerwood’s Twinfast threads offer an effective middle ground. The threads work well with harder materials, but instead of a single thread, they are equipped with two helices that cut fibers without tearing. They cut a cleaner channel through dense material, while also driving twice as far per turn.
Which Wood Screws Have the Highest Shear Strength?
In addition to holding power, two other kinds of strength are worth considering when you choose a wood screw. The first is shear strength, which is how well a screw resists lateral loads like the sideways pull of a wall cabinet loaded with dishes. The second is breaking torque, the amount of driving force a screw can take before it breaks.
Both depend on the steel a screw is made from and its thickness. Harder, heat-treated steel resists twisting and shearing. A bigger diameter puts more metal at the point where a failure might begin.
Deerwood wood screws are made of heat-treated, hardened steel for strength and durability. Screw diameters include common cabinet and furniture gauges, with sizes such as #6, #8, #10, and more, so you can pick the right wood screw for your workpiece.
How Strong Fasteners With Holding Power and Labor Efficiency Save Time
For a cabinet shop driving thousands of screws a day, small savings per fastener add up fast. A screw that seats in one pass and holds fast shaves seconds off every joint. Deerwood has equipped cabinetmakers and furniture builders since 1972 with screws engineered around exactly that idea. Every Deerwood wood screw is designed to install fast and hold tight in a range of materials.
Browse the full Deerwood range to find the best wood screw for your projects.
