Wood screw pilot hole

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54KB, 696x303px

This chart says I should be using a 1/8" straight bit. Can anyone confirm this to be accurate?

>>1200790
Hold the drill bit up in front of the screw, with the shank of the bit in line with the threaded portion of the screw. If you can see the threads, but little to no shank, poking out behind the bit on both sides of it you're good to go. Hope that makes sense.

can confirm, that is the best way

>>1200803
Yeah, the 1/8 straight bit looks exactly the diameter of the #8 screws' shanks.

1/8" straight bit it is. Thanks.

When in doubt do like this. >>1200803

Different woods have different risks for splitting, so undersizing holes needs to be tailored to what you're working with if you do that. Sizing to the shank pretty much prevents splitting no matter what you do. At the other extreme, self-tapping the screws without pilots can work just fine, but can be very prone to splitting if done close to ends or along the laminations of engineered wood.

For consideration, softwoods usually split less than hardwoods, damp wood splits less than dry wood, sapwood splits less than heartwood, natural wood splits less than engineered wood (with the exception of flat laminations being screwed across the layers), older/weathered wood splits more than recently-harvested wood, and denser wood splits more than lighter wood.

That said, you're unlikely to need the tiny bit of extra grip that undersizing provides. If the materials to be screwed look like they might split, you might as well size the pilot to the shank. It's just not the end of the world if you don't have quite the right size and need to use one a bit smaller.