Fastener glossary

Drive

The drive is the recess in the head - the shape your bit has to match. Get this wrong and you will cam out and chew the head.

Phillips

The cross recess. Cams the bit out under load by design, which is what stops you over-driving.

Quadrex

A combined square and cross recess — takes either bit. The store’s own artwork labels this one "Phillips Square (Combo)".

Square

A square (Robertson) recess. Holds the bit far better than Phillips, so it drives one-handed.

Combo

A straight slot plus a cross recess, for either a flat or a Phillips bit.

Square-#1

A square recess sized for a #1 driver rather than the #2 most of this catalogue takes.

Head

The head decides whether the screw finishes flush with the surface or stands proud of it, and how widely it spreads its clamping load.

Flat

A countersunk cone that seats flush with the surface. The default for face frames.

Flat with Nibs

A flat head with ribs on the underside that ream their own countersink as the screw seats — so it pulls flush without pre-countersinking.

Pan

A low dome with rounded shoulders. The general-purpose head that sits proud.

Truss

A wider, lower dome. Spreads the clamping load over more surface than a pan.

Modified Truss

Wider and flatter again — the largest bearing surface in this catalogue. For soft or thin material that a smaller head would pull through.

Round Washer

A dome sitting on an integral washer flange. Load spread of a washer with no separate part to lose.

Washer

A flat top plate over a cone — the flange without the dome. Lower profile than a round washer.

Fillister

Tall and narrow with a domed top. Sits high on a small footprint, for a counterbore.

Type E

Only one product in this catalogue carries this head value, and we hold no reference drawing for it. Call us and we will confirm the head against the real part before you order.

Thread

The thread is how the screw bites. Coarse and deep threads suit different core materials, and the difference matters most in particleboard.

Coarse

Widely spaced threads. The default in soft material and particleboard, where a fine thread would strip.

Fine

Closely spaced threads, so more of them are engaged in thin or hard material.

Deep

A tall thread on a narrow core. Bites into loose material like particleboard and end grain.

Euro

An asymmetric (buttress) thread form used on European hinge and system hardware.

Twinfast

Two thread starts, so the screw advances twice as far per turn. Faster to drive, same holding power.

Point

The point decides whether you have to drill a pilot hole, and how much the screw wants to split the work as it enters.

Sharp

A plain gimlet point. Starts on its own in soft material with no pilot hole.

Type 17

A sharp point with an auger notch cut into the tip. The notch clears its own chip, so it will not split hardwood or a face frame.

Long Type 17

The same auger notch run further up the flute, for deeper material.

Type A

A sharp point on widely spaced coarse thread, for sheet and soft material.

Dual Cutter

Two notches instead of one. Cuts faster than a single Type 17 and clears more chip.

Twinfast

A twin-lead point that pulls itself in at roughly double the rate.

Machine Screw

Not a point at all — a blunt, chamfered end for a tapped hole or a nut.

Euro

A blunt nose on fine thread, for pre-drilled European hardware.

Finish

A finish is the coating over the steel, and it decides two things: how the screw survives, and how it looks once it is in. Where a product does not publish a finish, the value is shown as “Not specified” rather than guessed at.

Black

A plain black coating. Where a product carries this rather than a named black finish, treat it as an indoor, appearance-led choice and call us if the difference matters for your application.

Black Oxide

A conversion coating that converts the surface iron itself, giving a deep black with a slight sheen. It adds well under two microns, so it holds tight tolerances, and it resists abrasion better than phosphate. On its own it offers no corrosion resistance - it relies on oil or wax, and even then it is an indoor finish.

Black Phosphate

A phosphate conversion coating, greyish-black and matte, slightly oily to the touch. Its porous surface holds lubricant, which cuts galling and drive wear, and once sealed it resists corrosion better than black oxide. This is the standard coating for cabinet and drywall screws, and the most common finish in this catalogue.

Dry Lube / Plain

Either a dry-film lubricant that lowers driving torque without adding measurable thickness, or an uncoated screw. Neither offers corrosion protection: keep both to dry interior work.

Nickel

A nickel plating, brighter and harder than zinc, chosen where the head will be visible and should stay bright.

Statuary Bronze

A dark, decorative bronze finish for work where the fastener is meant to be seen and to disappear against bronze or dark hardware.

Ultraguard

A proprietary corrosion-resistant coating, specified where a screw has to survive damp conditions or treated lumber that would attack a plain zinc plating.

Zinc

Electroplated zinc, bright silver. A sacrificial coating - the zinc corrodes before the steel underneath does - which makes it the general-purpose choice for dry interior work.

Stat Bronze

The catalogue’s abbreviation for Statuary Bronze, above.

Gauge and length are the two axes without a vocabulary to learn: gauge is a diameter, and length is measured differently depending on the head — see how lengths are measured and the wood screw diameter chart.