Interview with a cheerful master carpenter

I am a member of a Hungarian carpenter dynasty with a 50-year tradition.

I understand and love my trade. Most recently we were commissioned to build a carport for a family house in Buda, the roof of which functions as a full-value terrace. We already have plenty of practice in such things, but I must confess that previously either screws snapped off, or rust appeared around them, or both. What is more, the rust used to bleed through even the paintwork! Well, that is what we wanted to eliminate this time, because with our traditions we cannot afford that what we hand over should be anything less than first-class work.

We had to drive in more than a thousand screws in a short time. We needed a screw that was as soft and non-brittle as possible, one whose properties most resemble a nail, because a nail does not go brittle: it bends sooner than it breaks. We wanted to fit them without pre-drilling, yet also without splitting and screw breakage, so that the work would go faster.

We ordered 1028 reinforced-head, NONOX stainless and acid-resistant, self-tapping, self-countersinking, Torx decking screws (17513TX) from Menet-Trend Kft., in size 4,2×42. The surprise came when we started working with these next-generation wood screws, since they did not push the layers apart from one another but drew them together. They went into the wood without resistance, even through the knots! To our delight there was no need to pre-drill either, and there was no extra operation we had to carry out. We finished in a single day the work that otherwise takes us a day and a half to two days. It was very good to work with the Torx drive, because the fit of the bit is perfect, it does not jump out of the drive and it does not pit the wood.

We fitted 12 cm wide, 18 mm thick Baltic pine boards onto ready-bought, glued 15×25 Baltic pine beams, and onto the likewise glued 14×14 supporting beams. We placed the screws 2-2 cm from the edges everywhere. It is interesting and surprising that not even at the end, at the end grain, did the screw split the wood, whereas conventional screws split it there like there is no tomorrow.

This kind of clever wood screw was well worth its price to us! Even the owner took a great liking to them, on spotting that these screws are not yellow like conventional wood screws, but steely bright NONOX stainless and acid-resistant screws. Picking one up and looking it over, the owner even pricked a finger with it, drawing blood.

I must say, I did not even pay more for these than if I had bought similar steel screws from another well-known distributor, the one we otherwise usually buy from.

The staff at Menet-Trend were not only professionally well prepared but fast as well, and the price-to-value ratio was very good too. We will soon be starting another lean-to roof, for which we will need not only small sizes like these, but also large, 400-size NONOX stainless and acid-resistant structural (7505DTX) screws, which are good because they have a big, wide head with a Torx drive.

We are pleased with the poster we received, and ever since we found out how to use the table at the bottom of it, my colleagues and I have been poring over it constantly, choosing from it which next-generation NONOX stainless or acid-resistant wood screw to pick for what.