Screw color question

[Paul Wolf]

In the past when I've bought Kreg pocket screws, they had a bronze look.  Last night when I went to the store to pick up a package of 1 1/4" coarse thread screws, they had a bright zinc finish.  Is this a change?  Thanks.

Paul

[Ken Darga]

Steve, 

I posted comments, re ''hydrogen embrittlement''.

http://kregjig.ning.com/forum/topics/kreg-screw-quality?commentId=2...

Steve Schuh said:

I have been using screw lube and drilling a pilot hole and going in and out a bit.  Hickory is really hard wood and I had to use special techniques to keep it from splitting.  My point is that the technique that I was using with the old screws is not working with these inferior new shiny ones.  I can adjust my technique, maybe drill a bigger pilot hole.   It is just too bad the quality went down.  I have some old ones left and they fit much tighter onto the square drive bit.  The new ones wabble a bit and fall off.  The old ones don't wabble and you have to pull them off.  Nice joinery system.  Crappy screws.  I'd like to see some torque tests on the new compared to the old.  I bet the new twist off a lot sooner.  Did Kreg test these?

Steve

[Steve Dodson]

Thanks, Paul!  I bookmarked that site. 

 
Paul Wolf said:

Ryan/Steve and others,

As the person who originally opened this thread, I thought I should comment.  After Kreg switched to their current screw lineup,   I switched to using screws from Custom Service Hardware.  I've been using their coarse thread and fine thread dry-lubed screws which appear to be remarkably similar to the old-style Kreg screws.  I've had great luck using them.  Custom Service Hardware also carries pan-head and high/low screws, but I haven't used them myself.  Hope this helps.

Paul

[Trevor stafford]

I'm assuming the dri lube bronze coloured were actually passivated screws which in my humble opinion are far better than the new zinc ones (34 years a carpenter & Joiner)
KregRep said:

Paul, great question. Yes, this is a change we made about a half a year ago (but depending on stock, your dealer may have just made the change). We moved from dri-lube screws to zinc screws. The result is slightly better weather resistance and less rust/oily-residue in the box. We're very happy with the change so far, and most customers seem to be as well. It does make it a bit harder to tell between stainless and zinc, but the price should be a pretty good indicator! ;)

[Trevor stafford]

Because the yellow/bronze coloures ones were dri lube (passivated) and so could be used with a lower torque and so didn't snap as easy as the new zinc ones do fact
Regards
Trevor

Ken Darga said:

How does the ''screw color'' (as noted in the subject title),

make the product ''clearly inferior''?---

as stated in Steve Dodson's post.

[Trevor stafford]

I hope they do buddy because as stated in other replies they were dri lib (passivated) so much better than these new ones which in my opinion are inferior
Trevor

Ryan McLaughlin said:

I have assembled many componets over the years using Kreg's Bronze Screws with no issues whatsoever until I opened my first box of cheap Zinc SML-F125 and the very first one snapped right off!! This had never happened before with the Bronze screws! The quality just isn't there and I sure hope Kreg doesn't continue down this road with their other products... Any input from a Kreg rep would be appreciated! Will Kreg return to the original screw?

Thanks!