Screws driven into the end grain of ply-wood should be long enough to take
a 3/4-inch bite into the wood. Longer screws will not add materially to
the strength of the joint and may split the wood.
Screws driven into core stock or solid wood should take a 1-inch bitebut
to prevent splitting, a pilot hole, half the diameter of the screw, should
be drilled first in the solid wood.
Screws driven into exposed surfaces of the project should be concealed with
long-grain wood plugs as shown in the photos. These plugs are cut as needed
from the sides of scrap wood with a special 1/2-inch plug cutter. They differ
from dowels in that their ends have the grain pattern running across the
surface, while dowels have an end grain.
The advantages of long-grain plugs are many. They can be cut from wood
that matches in color and grain pattern the surface being plugged, and
when properly matched and fitted they be-come almost invisible in the
finished piece. Plugs take stain finishes in the same shade as the
surrounding wood, while dowels, with their end grains, soak up the stain
and appear considerably darker than the surrounding wood.
Dowels used as plugs may in time distort due to their failure to shrink
and expand in the same direction as the wood which holds them. Plugs,
however, will expand and contract in the same way as the wood. Finally,
if for any reason a plug must be removed later, it can be chipped out easily
with a 1/4-inch chisel, while the only way a dowel can be removed is to
drill it out.
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