After the wheel, the screw is one of the simplest, most powerful tools ever invented. A screw is a helical drive machine makes attaching two pieces of almost anything very easy simply by twisting them. Unlike nails, you can remove and reuse screws with ease. Most are made of steel, brass or aluminum, but you’ll also see specialty screws cast of plastic or nylon.

Types of Screws

A screw type typically gets its name from the type of head it uses when being driven. The most common household screw types include:

Slotted Head (flat blade / straight slot):
Used for simple joints, such as attaching a faceplate to an electrical outlet.

Phillips Head (+ shape):
Typically used on appliances, machines, hinges, and other hardware.

Multi-Head
Torx (star shape), Robertson (square), Hex screw (six-sided):
These are typically used in building and machine industries because they more effectively use the torque delivered by a power drill or pneumatic tool. These are also less common and are therefore used on some consumer products to discourage people from disassembling them.

Uses and Head Shapes

Uses and Head Shapes

Secondary to drive type is the material the screw is made to go into (such as wood, sheet metal or drywall) and the shape of its head. The most common are:

Flathead or countersunk (wood screw):
This head has a flat top, allowing it to be driven into a tapered hole with the head set below the wood surface. Wood screws have coarse threads and the thread does not go all the way to the screw head. Screws like these are often used in furniture.

Pan head (sheet metal screw):
Sheet-metal screws often use a pan head shape which has a flat head with slightly rounded sides. The threads of sheet metal screws are finer than wood screws and are threaded the entire length of the screw shaft.

Round head:
This looks almost like a half-circle from the side and is typically found on machine screws used in cars or power equipment.

How to Choose

First, know what you’re screwing into. Screws are labeled according to their use: Your hardware store will have rows of wood screws, sheet metal screws, drywall screws and the like. If you’re building a birdhouse, for example, you’ll need wood screws.

Consider the thickness of the material you’re joining. In our birdhouse example, we’ll screw through the face of one 3/4-inch board into the end grain of another. We’ll want to pass through the 3/4-inch board, of course, and at least another 3/4 inch into the second piece of wood to give it a good grip, so we’d shop for wood screws no less than 1 1/2 inches long.