On Mon, 10 Feb 2014 13:05:22 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
.. .
..and I've abandoned 1/4" lag screws for
5/16" because they break too often when unscrewed from predrilled
holes in oak.

I hope you're waxing any hardware going into hardwood. It extends
its
lifetime a minimum of 100%.

I sprayed LPS-3, which dries to a waxy film, into the boxes of lag
screws, and I predrill oak and pressure-treated SYP for the shank and
threads, somewhat undersized since the fasteners need to withstand an
estimated half ton of snow and ice on the roof. . AFAICT the hard wood
scours off some of the zinc, so wax doesn't really have a chance.

Are you using tapered drillbits? If you're scouring the galv off it
on the way in, the hardware won't last in PT, anyway. LPS-3 should be
good.


I stopped waxing furniture screws because it interferes with staining.

Ewwwwwwwwwwwww! Wood shouldn't be stained. Use a clearcoat, fer
Crom's sake! /purist But if you must stain, finish the wood first,
then drill and assemble. Pieces of carpet on your drillpress are
friendly to prefinished furniture components.


I spent this morning sanding off a misguided amateur puttying and
staining job in the club's bathroom. On the way home I raided HD's
rack of unpretty PT 4x4's at 70% off. The firewood it will support
doesn't care what it looks like.

Funny, that.


--
The most powerful factors in the world are clear
ideas in the minds of energetic men of good will.
-- J. Arthur Thomson