Pro Handyman Blog

For your carpentry projects, nails and screws are unattractive. A glued joint is stronger than any nail or screw, particularly when applied to the long grain of the wood’s surface. Biscuits can also be glued at the joints to make a very strong joint..

If you are using nails or screws, you can countersink them to make your project more attractive. To countersink a nail, you can use a nail set. This is a stiff sharp tool with a blunt end on it for hitting with a hammer. You simply hammer the nail close to the surface of the wood and then place the nail set on the head of the nail and tap it just below the surface of the wood. Then you can fill in the divot with wood putty. The key here is to hit the nail very close to the surface of the wood before you use the nail set. If you leave the nail ½” out and use the nail set, you will likely bend the nail.

For screws, you can use a countersink bit, which is tapered in the same way the head of the screw is tapered. As the bit drills a hole, the tapered device cuts the taper for the screw head. Some screw heads also have small burrs on the underside of them that will cut a taper for countersinking.