Broken screws

Trapeze

I have used these screws on lots of jobs without problems.

2 days ago I used 2 of them to screw a small bird box to a birch tree and last night it fell off. They were not over tightened because doing so would have pulled the heads through the bird box wood.

Anyone come across this before?

Edit. getting error when trying to upload image.

The Continental Op

Depends on the screw. Some are very brittle and snap as you put them in and others are just crap. Stainless Steel screws are the worst. I always predrill or put in a steel screw first then remove it before driving them.

Odelay

Shouldn’t happen in normal circumstances. Try another box of screws.

Trapeze

Thinking about this, it's most likely that the screws were a bit long and became very tight in the tree just as the heads reached the hanging holes in the bird box and partially sheared. I was using an unfamiliar impact driver so could have over done it.

Thanks guys for the replies.

The Continental Op

Trapeze wrote: »

Thinking about this, it's most likely that the screws were a bit long and became very tight in the tree just as the heads reached the hanging holes in the bird box and partially sheared. I was using an unfamiliar impact driver so could have over done it.

Thanks guys for the replies.

Theres your answer in your post "Tree", green sappy wood will grip a screw far more than dry seasoned timber.

Sleeper12

There are different quality screws. Haven't bought in Woodies in a long time but the metal in their screws was very soft.

You will always get good quality screws at a trade counter. Heatmerchants, Chadwicks etc. Tradesmen won't buy bad quality screws