There is no doubt that there are many types of wood screws today. Most of them differ in many ways, while in others, the differences are minimal at first glance, but fundamental from a technical point of view. Thus, we can distinguish between flat head screws, rounded head screws, Allen-type screws, star screws and a long list of variants.

Many times it can be quite complex to know what type of screw is best suited to a certain wood work that we are going to do. For this reason, in this article we are going to give you the keys you need to be able to choose the perfect wood screws according to the task and the pieces you want to fix.

What wood screws to choose?

Wood screws, also often referred to as lag screws, are one of the most common and widely used types of screws. These elements are used to join pieces of wood together or with other materials such as metal, plastic, cement, etc.

These screws are easily identifiable since their tip is narrower than the body, since it is this part that makes its way as the screw is screwed into the wood. Although there are various classifications, today we can divide them into 4 main types of wood screws.

On the one hand, an essential categorization is through the material with which they are made. But they are also classified by the type of head they have, the length and also the diameter of the cane. Let’s see then one by one so that everything is clearer to us.

Fabrication material

The first classification that we can find in terms of wood screws is according to the material with which they are made. In response to this, the screws can be made of materials as diverse as copper, bronze, stainless steel or brass, which are among the most common. But there are also screws made with carbon steel or aluminum wood screws.

Brass

At the same time, any of these types of wood custom screw can have a specific finish such as galvanized, nickel plated, chrome plated or bichromated.

But which ones are tougher? Well, the most resistant and of the highest quality are the stainless steel screws, which withstand the stresses of mechanical resistance and oxidation very well. For their part, brass screws are weaker, but are widely used in woodworking due to their versatility. The chrome ones, compared to the bichromate variants, are less polluting.

Head type

The next categorization of wood screws is based on the type of screw head. In this regard, they can be flat, pointed or rounded heads. We will give due account of them below.

Flat head: it is widely used in carpentry, since this type of head is flush with the surface in question or even completely submerged in the wood.

Pointed head: this type of head is useful for fixing, for example, metal elements to wood. They have a characteristic to take into account: they are easier to remove than those with a flat head.

Round Head – If you need two parts to be joined together by, say, washers, you will need a round head screw.