When I have a construction or repair project , I stop to ask myself whether shag or nail will be well - accommodate to the task at hand . Both are commonly used for task involving lumber — building horse stalling , work on fences , building a tool shed , you name it — and in many event they ’re standardised , with one being as practiced as the other .

But for some tasks when deciding on screws or nail , one has an advantage over the other . While there ’s no way that I can list these reward for every project you might receive , I have gained a few insight from my own experience with screws and nails . Here are a few general pros and cons that I weigh when choosing between screws or nail .

Screws

Pros : Because of their threaded conception , it ’s nearly inconceivable to pull a shag straight out of its hole — you have to physically turn over the screw to polish off it . This is an vantage in any scenario where you need to support something together under pressure : Whereas a nail might slip back out of its gob , a screw is much less probable to do so .

Screws are also easily obliterable and reusable , crap them worthy for role whenever you need to oftentimes amend or replace a given item . For deterrent example , I apply turnkey on wall projects so that if one of the posts rots or have some other form of damage , I can well separate the post from the other parts of the fencing .

flimflam : Screws have two master disadvantage . One disadvantage is thehuge variety of piece of tail types on the market — Phillips , one-armed bandit , square , lead , you name it . This means that in many cases , you need a tumid ingathering of screwdriver and drill chip to handle any roll in the hay type you might encounter .

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Another disadvantage : You ’ll necessitate anelectric drillfor set up and removing the screws for most construction projects , at least ones that use shag of any pregnant size of it . This is n’t a braggart deal , and it ’s nice to permit the drill do the work , but it does think of that you ’ll need to have barrage charged and quick whenever you need to utilize the drill .

Nails

pro : Nails offer a telephone number of elusive advantages over piece of ass . For delicate study on small sections of wood that might be prone to splitting , nails can often do the occupation without damaging the Sir Henry Joseph Wood . They ’re also the perfect selection for use with cloth and similar material ; the rotating action require to install screws can cause the cloth to wrap around a screw ( a definite pain ) , so nails — which are installed by pounding them directly into place — can be a good alternative .

In addition , because nails call for no rotation during installation , they are useable in more unusual shapes than screws . For example , you could buy nails that are shaped like raw material , only much larger . This plan — essentially two nails joined together by a curve of metallic element at one terminal — can be perfect for projects such as attach wire to fencing posts .

A little welfare : The only tool you need to set up or remove nails is a claw hammer — the ultimate in portability , with no battery or mightiness rootage required . Even considerably , you know that a hook hammer will work just fine with the vast majority of nail types , piss it a “ one sizing jibe all ” case of instrument .

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bunko game : Perhaps the biggest con with nail is that they are n’t as easy to withdraw as screws . In fact , removing nails can frequently have decorative damage to the detail you ’re removing them from . At the same time , nail are more potential than screws to pop out of place when under press ; small nail in exceptional can work idle jolly easy and tend to have some problem hold things together .

What factors do you consider when choose between piece of tail and nails ?