On Mon, 03 May 2004 23:17:03 +0200, peter
wrote:

Has anyone ever used drywall screws (the black ones for screwing
plasterboard - I think you call it sheetrock in the US- onto metal
studs and plastering over) for holding the strips in the right
alignment, instead of wooden dowels and/or plywood cleats, or is it a
really dumb idea? I mean just for those annoying bits where the new
strip won't quite line up over the one in place.

The screws don't rust as far as I know and as the whole lot is
encapsulated in epoxy afterwards I doubt if they ever would. I've used
them for fixing things into wood for years and never noticed any
detrimental effect, so I doubt that they would cause an damage to the
wood, assuming a pilot hole was drilled first.

It's just that they are so cheap and are so easy and quick to screw
in.

Another Pete

Well I'll bow to the weight of opinion here regarding the rust, but I
will insist that I have used these screws for joinery projects for
nearly 20 years and I have yet to see one fail through rust. I have
used them in all situations and the worst rust I have seen is a little
surface rust where the screwdriver tips have worn away the sheridising
(or whatever it is called) as it slipped. These screws are made to be
plastered over. But if you all insist......it's back to the wooden
dowels; it's not much more work really.......sigh..............

Another Pete

"peter" writes:

Well I'll bow to the weight of opinion here regarding the rust, but I
will insist that I have used these screws for joinery projects for
nearly 20 years and I have yet to see one fail through rust. I have
used them in all situations and the worst rust I have seen is a little
surface rust where the screwdriver tips have worn away the sheridising
(or whatever it is called) as it slipped. These screws are made to be
plastered over. But if you all insist......it's back to the wooden
dowels; it's not much more work

If you don't want to bother removing them, there are S/S deck screws
available.

Try Jamestown Distributors.


--
Lew

S/A: Challenge, The Bullet Proof Boat, (Under Construction in the Southland)
Visit: http://home.earthlink.net/~lewhodgett for Pictures

In my opinion, the bum thing about drywall screws is that they break easily.
Going fine ...going fine ...'click'. "Hey? Wonder what that little click
noise was? Hey look ...the head of the screw just spins ...damn!" I've
switched to square drive deck screws. The good thing about dry wall screws
of course is that they are self-starting and have a thin shank that normally
does not require predrilling before using. The deck screws that I've been
using (see project below ...lots of temporary screws) have a thin shank, are
ceramic coated, and the threads are missing on a very short space below the
head so the screws are good for pulling two layers together like a clamp.
These are leftovers from the last fence project that I did (two years ago
....no rust on the fence so far.) I've dug my last drywall screw out ...no
more for me.

Brian


--
http://www.advantagecomposites.com/tongass -- My 22' Tolman Skiff project
http://www.advantagecomposites.com/catalog -- Discounted System Three
Resins products


..
"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
ink.net...

"peter" writes:

Well I'll bow to the weight of opinion here regarding the rust, but I
will insist that I have used these screws for joinery projects for
nearly 20 years and I have yet to see one fail through rust. I have
used them in all situations and the worst rust I have seen is a little
surface rust where the screwdriver tips have worn away the sheridising
(or whatever it is called) as it slipped. These screws are made to be
plastered over. But if you all insist......it's back to the wooden
dowels; it's not much more work

If you don't want to bother removing them, there are S/S deck screws
available.

Try Jamestown Distributors.


--
Lew

S/A: Challenge, The Bullet Proof Boat, (Under Construction in the
Southland)
Visit: http://home.earthlink.net/~lewhodgett for Pictures

"Brian D" wrote in message news:ZQjmc.28871$Ia6.4578039@attbi_s03...

I've dug my last drywall screw out ...no
more for me.

:-) Same act, different stage. Their high hardness/brittleness is
problematic enough, but here in the NE US our rain is often as acid as
ph 4, and in a lot of exposed uses they seem to suffer from added
corrosion embrittlement (observed but not proven), and also often do
waste through enough in a few years to fracture off in acidic woods
like our read oak. Seem to be a false economy all the way around,
afloat or ashore - YMMV. But then again, I'm the kind of guy who
thinks drywall is a dumb, useless material, too (except as a fire
barrier). :-)