Nibs or no nibs? Do they work?

[Rich Engelhardt]

I'm ordering screws.
Do countersink nibs work to eliminate a separate step?

[Matt Day]

Eh, they sort of work for rough lumber and shop projects. For anything clean you still need to countersink. So basically unless you were using 2x’s, I suggest you pre-drill and countersink first. It also reduces the chance of splitting.

[Ron Selzer]

I think so most of the time, some times not.
All depends on the wood and how nice you want it to finish out.
I buy with nibs when available but don't obsess over it
YMMV
Ron

[Jon Endres]

Good for carpentry and rough projects, pretty much useless for anything that needs a decent appearance.

[Mark Bolton]

It depends completely on the material and the thread engagement. No one would assume your thinking nibs will leave you a dead clean countersink on a finished face that would then be plugged or serve as an exposed face. Nibs are there to give you a flush head without a counterbore where its acceptable.

That said, if the material doesnt have enough fastener holding (ply wood or short screw engagement) the threads wont have enough grab to let the nibs do their work. I run nib'd screws on a lot of carcass construction for boxes coming off the CNC and we over-drill the clearance hole slightly especially on things like dado or rabbeted 1/2" carcass material because were only running a 1" screw and the 1/2" ply doesnt have enough grab to pull the head flush and if we run a 1 1/4" screw it will split the ply.

In any material like solids or thicker ply that will let you really pull the head down you can likely pull the head of the screw as deep as you want.

I pretty much bring anything in nib'd if its available because its not much more an you have the option.

[Jim Becker]

The nibs do work, but I wouldn't depend upon them for "fine woodworking". They are great for projects where you want the fastener to be at or below the surface without countersinking first...deck projects and similar are prime examples of where they are valuable no-question. I think that the GRKs that I use for my home improvement projects have that feature. In the shop...I do the pre-drill and countersink and then use my normal McFeely's fasteners..

[George Yetka]

I have been using mcfeelys black square drive for anything 1 and under and GRK r4s for anything else. I do countersink though

[Bill Dufour]

If you care use an aircraft countersink cage with a piloted countersink. Every click is about 1/1000" depth change. Just match the countersink angle with the fastener.
Bill D

[Kevin Jenness]

One drawback to nib-head screws is when they are used repeatedly in the same holes, as when fastening jigs, shaper sub-fences and the like- the holes just keep getting deeper. The depth of non-nibbed screws is determined by the countersink while the nibbed ones can be over-driven.

[Randall J Cox]

If you care use an aircraft countersink cage with a piloted countersink. Every click is about 1/1000" depth change. Just match the countersink angle with the fastener.
Bill D


Bill, I had to look that one up (aircraft countersink cage). Interesting, looks like they might be perfect for fine woodworking. Where i can, I set my drill press to a specific depth with a countersink to get consistent depth countersinks. Given where you are, did you use to work on acft at Castle AFB? Randy

[Bill Dufour]

Did go to a wedding at castle AFB. I am a retired school teacher never worked on planes. I found out about countersink cages because I bought a few in a baggie with some Starrett stuff at a thrift store in Stockton and found out more about them.
Bill D.

https://www.browntool.com/Listview/tabid/344/CategoryID/62/Level/a/ProductID/3782/Default.aspx

[Bill Dufour]

I thought bugle head screws were designed for wood while flat head is for metal with the countersink machined into the work.
Bill D.

[Rich Engelhardt]

If you care use an aircraft countersink cage with a piloted countersink. Every click is about 1/1000" depth change. Just match the countersink angle with the fastener.What a simple elegant tool! (simple in it's way to solve a problem, not in it's manufacture).

[Mark Bolton]

I thought bugle head screws were designed for wood while flat head is for metal with the countersink machined into the work.
Bill D.

I thought bugle head screws were originally designed for drywall not wood because the bugle head created a smooth depression in the paper face of drywall (ever try running a flat head screw of any kind in drywall? It no workie outie so well. Try hanging a sheet overhead with flat head screws. You'd better be wearing a hard hat). They have just become the norm since the home center disaster and just became the default although now the spax/et al' options abound.

Wood screws traditionally were never bugle head and absolutely NONE of the screws I bring in nib'd of course are bugle. They are all flat.