# Cutting tip off of wood screw stops splitting ??



## OldBull (Apr 30, 2020)

At 7:33 into this video it shows this method, anyone ever used this ??


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## Sycamoray (Jun 24, 2020)

I've done that when framing with wire nails. The blunt tip breaks and pushes a plug of wood grain rather than driving it apart. You can see that at the end when he's driving the blunt screw.

I prefer to use this rare and very hard to find tool: https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/power-tool-accessories/drill-bits/32241-triumph-hss-twist-drill-sets.

/s


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## 1thumb (Jun 30, 2012)

I love these

https://www.grkfasteners.com/finish/fin-trim-finishing-trim-head-screw


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

I've never done that and never will. I drill a pilot hole instead. For the best tapered drill sets, check out Fuller. I bought their full set twenty-some years ago and they're still going strong.

I really dislike videos like that one. They are all hype with virtually no useful information. Cutting the head off a screw; using a washer for a slotted screw; measuring gimmicks. It's all worthless.

There was one gem in the video and that was making an alignment jig for sanding disks. I made this one many years ago and still use it regularly for 8-hole disks.


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## therealSteveN (Oct 29, 2016)

> At 7:33 into this video it shows this method, anyone ever used this ??
> 
> 
> 
> ...


If you watch Ask This Old House, between shows you probably have seen the segment where Tommy is working with the kids, and he shows them to dull the point of a nail before diving it near the edge, to keep from splitting. Same exact dynamic at play. A pointed penetration will cause the wood fibers to separate, where a dull blunted one will crunch them, and drive them down. You can call it hype, or say that exact point you suggested to look at didn't show anything, but the guy screwed in a sharp, and a dulled screw, and you see the difference, just the same way you'll see it if you test it yourself at home.

Craftsmen have been doing that for ages, long before someone thought to use a drill bit, and a spur to make a countersunk pilot hole. 

Joel also explains it talking about nails, and even the much larger cut nail in the link below. Note due to their huge size, and wedged shape you need to sink cut nails with the wedge shape going along with the grain. For rounded screws, and nails it isn't a difference which way you spin them, but the point if flattened will penetrate without splitting, where if you don't you will split more often. Usually this is only a feature you see near the edge of a piece of wood. But if you have a pile of wood from the same source, and one splits when drilled in mid board, I'd start flattening.

https://toolsforworkingwood.com/store/blog/324


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## sansoo22 (May 7, 2019)

Rich - Thanks for the link to the Fuller tapered bits. I've got some cheap ones around that work well enough but I really hate the stop collars and the bits tend to dull easier than I would like. The small Fuller kit looks like it would suite my needs for quite some time.

I recently picked up one of these counter sink bits by Amana. They are a bit pricey so buy one as you need them but it takes some of the "brain power" out of countersinking pilot holes.


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

> Rich - Thanks for the link to the Fuller tapered bits. I ve got some cheap ones around that work well enough but I really hate the stop collars and the bits tend to dull easier than I would like. The small Fuller kit looks like it would suite my needs for quite some time.
> 
> - sansoo22


Whiteside makes a good product as well. When I bought mine, Fuller was pretty much the only game in town.


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## MrUnix (May 18, 2012)

I always thought that was common knowledge… I learned about blunting nail tips and screws back in the 70's when I first started working construction. Drilling holes first may be fine if you are in a shop, but when you are out on site, you don't want to carry around anything more than you have to (plus, there were no cordless drills back then 

Cheers,
Brad


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

> You can call it hype, or say that exact point you suggested to look at didn t show anything, but the guy screwed in a sharp, and a dulled screw, and you see the difference, just the same way you ll see it if you test it yourself at home.
> 
> - therealSteveN


It is hype. Did you see how soft that wood was? Give that a try in a real hardwood and see how far you get. Take something like mesquite, and that blunt tip won't even get started (see the photo below).

There are right and wrong ways to use screws, and cutting the tip off of one so you don't have to drill a proper pilot hole isn't one of the right ones.

Here's a clipped tip screw and mesquite. It's hard to see, but there are nothing but tracks where the screw walked around. Hey, maybe if I'd drilled a pilot hole it would have worked! LMAO.


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## therealSteveN (Oct 29, 2016)

> I always thought that was common knowledge… I learned about blunting nail tips and screws back in the 70 s when I first started working construction. Drilling holes first may be fine if you are in a shop, but when you are out on site, you don t want to carry around anything more than you have to (plus, there were no cordless drills back then
> 
> Cheers,
> Brad
> ...


Same here Brad. My education on this was in the 60's though. Maybe it's just a Carpenters trick? I do know it works EXACTLY the same on hardwoods as soft.

There were too cordless drills back then. The Meat and beer powered ones.


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## Knockonit (Nov 5, 2017)

back in the day, i always had a push drill in my apron for some minor holes, sure made life a little easier, not always, but most time, 
good luck with the screwing
Rj in az


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## LeeRoyMan (Feb 23, 2019)

Yeah, maybe if you don't have a pilot bit. 
What I noticed is that he couldn't drive the screw in all the way or it would have cracked.

So I guess if you wanted the head of the screw flush, you would have to counter sink it first, 
so might as well just drill the pilot hole and counter sink at the same time.

Not a fan of cutting the tip off although you could if you wanted, it's not for me though.


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