Torx screws vs Robertson screws -- First Impressions (WnW #53)

today its torques versus Robertson hey everyone so last month I put out this short video where I was comparing the Robertson screws versus the Phillips versus the slotted now this was just a joke video I was just having fun expressing some of my frustrations with these other screws but I got a lot of fairly serious comments that a number of people were challenging me challenging me about torques like what about Torx bits no I've got basically no experience with Torx bits at all so I thought well let's check it out so I'm going to put together a video today where I'm going to try out a bunch of Torx bits and see if they can convince me that they're better or at least as good as the Robertson so now let me could be completely upfront with my biases I've been using Robertson screws you know since I was a kid you know 3040 years I've been using them and I'm not sure all you non-canadians out there really appreciate how deeply entrenched the Robertson screws are here in Canada so let me take you to the local big-box store and I'm going to show you the fastener aisle okay virtually everything at this end of the aisle is Robertson over here the wood screws panhead countersunk metric machine screws metal screws three Bay's all Robertson over on this side deck screws two different kinds of deck screws flooring screws construction screws these are all Robertson here we have the drywall screws those are Phillips we're not going to talk about those and in the entire store this is it for Torx pants these are grk Torx fasteners I bought two different kinds I bought two countersunk ones and some panhead ones they come with a bit that is supplied which is good I also bought a bit for my driver and this is also a grk bit so I know it is matched to these so according to Wikipedia the proper name for this type of screw is a hexa lobular screw and we're not putting up with that kind of nonsense so it's a Torx bit and there are like 25 different sizes of Torx bits they go all the way down to like 0.8 millimeters all the way up to 22 millimeters it's a huge range you're probably only going to use like two or three sizes in most everyday like them so now let's turn our attention to the Robertson just like with the torques there are many different sizes of screws and screwdrivers but one of the neat things about Robertson is that they are all color-coded by size in fact I tend to forget the numbers that they correspond to because you just call them out by color for instance on the smaller end we have the green here this is used frequently by electricians because in electrical boxes the switch contacts and things those are the size of screw up at the larger end you have the black handle every Robertson screwdriver that has a black handle is going to be a certain size and here in the middle you have the red this is the most common one used in woodworking I looked it up this is for the number eight the number ten size screw using it constantly there are a few other sizes but these are the most common ones give me a red handle give me a green handle give me a black handle that's what you tend to say a lot when you're working with Robertson screws so in the last video I made a big deal of the fact that the screws would stay on now the Torx bits do not stay on they Snug out nicely but they do fall off however if you are going over your head no they will stay on you know up to a certain point but you know you turn sideways and off they come so why don't the Robertson fall off well the reason is is that this is not actually square it's not a cube on a proper Robertson and I'll probably going to have to come in for a close-up here the sides of the bit have a slight taper and that matches a slight taper in the screw so when you put the screw in you know it can push on and well they're not all perfect some will fall off remember that was a joke video I was making they're still you know they stay on really nicely and if you give it a little push you know it'll stay on and I can do the up and movement that I was showing in the other video that's what I really like about the Robertson and and the fact that they they don't cam out they keep a lot of really good grip when you're screwing into some way one more thing is that the Robertson are really easy to use one-handed because the screw does such a good job of staying on you don't need to be holding the screw you can be holding the piece alright so let's just do a whole bunch of screws now I'm going to do a bunch with no pre drilling and some soft wood that I'm going to do something with pre drilling I'm going to do some Robertson and I'm going to do some torques and I've got the same length inch and 3/4 what I'm doing here so let's go so that's ten each they both worked none of them jumped or slipped I did not go in the exact same these grk are designed with a self-tapping bit here these actually cut in a bit more before the hammering started these were hammering almost right from the beginning that's you know the the threads are just manufactured different there that's not really a concern so that was pretty interesting I did ten of each ten pre-drilled ten nan pre-drilled ten of each kind of screws in the pre-drilled no surprise they just sank in very easily in the non pre-drilled it took a little bit longer but they still went in okay I didn't have any jumping at all interesting in the pre drilled I would have to give the edge to the grk and again I'm wondering if that could just because of the thread design here that these are designed to be self tapping and they cut really nicely the grk sank in beautifully one interesting difference is that it was actually a little bit just a smidgen quicker to get the grk bit started which makes sense when you think about it because there are six points so there are six positions where you can be in where it will just pop into this tip whereas with the robertson there's only four so there were like two or three times out of these ten where I just had to reposition it just a bit before I had it properly seated not a big deal but you know I will be honest and I'll give that advantage to the grk I'm going to try a little bit of hard wood here this is some very hard red oak I've pre-drilled a little hole and let's see how it does let's try some n green well okay guys that was pretty impressive these Torx bits hang on a second so I'm almost feeling a bit unpatriotic for admitting it but I have to say that these grk Torx bits we're every bit as good as the Robertson that I'm used to now I've only driven a few dozen this is a first impression this is not a detail heavy with the numbers and stats and all that kind of review I have not done thousands hundreds I'm just done a couple of dozen of these things and they were really good they were faster than the Robertson in many cases I think a lot of that probably has to do with the threads on these grk bits I'll show put in a little close-up these are self tapping no pre drilling they've got a little wedge in there so that it cuts into the wood really nice I'd like to get these kind of threads with a Robertson bit and then I could that'd be an interesting comparison the Robertson Isle I still think they stay on the screwdriver a little bit better because of the wedge shape but the six points means that you could fit your driver bit into these just a smidgen quicker at times they don't came out they don't came out that's a tie there I have had situations where these have popped out I wasn't able to do that tonight when I was testing I you know again if you drive thousands of these maybe maybe some of these will pop out sometimes when you're screwing them I don't know first impressions torques pretty good Robertson there's still everywhere in Canada I'm probably not going to stop using them so and I think that's about it for now I hope you found this entertaining enjoyable hope you learn something and I hope you come back next time we'll see you Oh still recording I was still recording let's pause that you

Channel: Wordsnwood (Art Mulder)

Views: 167,673

Keywords: Woodworking, How-to, Do-It-Yourself, Torx wood screws, Robertson screws, Torx VS Robertson, Testing Torx Wood Screws vs Robertson Wood Screws

Id: PMXOTRVYNiw

Length: 9min 46sec (586 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 11 2016