2006-12-04 14:29:17 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
wood screws will hold longer than nails usually. "wood" screws by design have a spiraling groove cut into the body of the screw. It is intended to "cut" grooves into the wood as it is screwed into place. This creates a groove along the entire length that resists pulling. Nails by contrast, are not intended to "pull" boards together. They were intended to "hold" boards in place, relying on the added strength of the metal in the nail to support the structure. Nails were never intended to resist "pull," and as such, construction design was important to ensure nails wern't over-tasked for something they were never intended to accomplish.
2006-12-04 14:56:27 · answer #1 · answered by stretch 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Assuming you are using the proper nails and the proper screws, the screws would tend to grip better.
If you take a screw out of wood you will see that it has cut groves into the wood.
To force that screw directly out of the wood you would have to actually rip a chunk of wood along with the screw.
On the other hand nails will normally pull right out of a piece of wood without ripping any wood. The only thing holding a nail in place is friction. Vibration, thermal forces and moisture or the lack of moisture can all work to cause that nail to "pop."
That being said, all bets are off if you use the wrong screw. A thick nail may hold better than a thin screw. A stainless steel nail may hold better than a plain steel screw once all of the threads have corroded off of the plain steel screw.
2006-12-04 22:52:17 · answer #2 · answered by Coach 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The material you are nailing or screwing into will have some bearing on the answer to this. Generally speaking though, a screw usually supplies a more secure connection. It corkscrews into the material so to come back out, idealy it has to go through a lot of reverse corkscrew motion, it shouldn't just slide back out smoothly ( unless the material around it has crumbled or deteriorated in some way.) The ridges on the screw are kept back by the ridges they made in the material, when going in.
As a nail is hammered in it forms a tube shaped opening around itself in the material surrounding it. Unlike a screw hole, it is smooth providing less resistance against the nail pulling out, than the ridged screw hole.
Once again, the material(s) and the density of the material being nailed, the weights and pressure points involved, and the angle of entry can all effect this theory, as well as the length and gauge of the fastener.
2006-12-04 23:06:47 · answer #3 · answered by lveno4 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
screws will hold longer than the nails because it will have a tighter bond between the 2 objects
2006-12-04 22:32:05 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'll give you a buck if you can remove a ring shank nail from a piece of wood. Well, not really, but I'd be impressed.
2006-12-04 23:02:16 · answer #5 · answered by Peter 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
depends but generally screws - the grooves act like teeth
2006-12-04 22:35:12 · answer #6 · answered by melgtimm 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋