Why does pre-drilling a hole reduce the chances that wood will split when you put a screw in? Doesn’t the wood still need to expand the same amount?
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The act of drilling the hole removes wood, so no, the wood doesn’t need to expand the same amount because there is less wood in the space where the screw will go.
When you drive a nail or screw into wood, the fibers need to compress to accommodate the fibers and the fastener in the same amount of space. Some wood is better than others at compressing and flexing to allow the fastener space, if they can’t compress the fibers will tear and shear causing the crack.
Pre-drilling the hole removes some of the material that will be filled with the fastener. So there is less stuff trying to occupy the same amount of space.
The act of drilling the hole removes wood, so no, the wood doesn’t need to expand the same amount because there is less wood in the space where the screw will go.
When you drive a nail or screw into wood, the fibers need to compress to accommodate the fibers and the fastener in the same amount of space. Some wood is better than others at compressing and flexing to allow the fastener space, if they can’t compress the fibers will tear and shear causing the crack.
Pre-drilling the hole removes some of the material that will be filled with the fastener. So there is less stuff trying to occupy the same amount of space.
The act of drilling the hole removes wood, so no, the wood doesn’t need to expand the same amount because there is less wood in the space where the screw will go.
When you drive a nail or screw into wood, the fibers need to compress to accommodate the fibers and the fastener in the same amount of space. Some wood is better than others at compressing and flexing to allow the fastener space, if they can’t compress the fibers will tear and shear causing the crack.
Pre-drilling the hole removes some of the material that will be filled with the fastener. So there is less stuff trying to occupy the same amount of space.
The amount of wood that gets “removed by drilling” is an amount of wood that no longer needs to be “pushed out of the way” when the screw is driven into the wood.
Consider what happens when you pre-drill a teeny-tiny pinhole of a hole, versus a hole slightly-smaller than the shaft of the screw, versus a hole equal to the size of the screw’s shaft. As the holes get bigger, the screws get easier to drive with less and less effort.
The amount of wood that gets “removed by drilling” is an amount of wood that no longer needs to be “pushed out of the way” when the screw is driven into the wood.
Consider what happens when you pre-drill a teeny-tiny pinhole of a hole, versus a hole slightly-smaller than the shaft of the screw, versus a hole equal to the size of the screw’s shaft. As the holes get bigger, the screws get easier to drive with less and less effort.
The amount of wood that gets “removed by drilling” is an amount of wood that no longer needs to be “pushed out of the way” when the screw is driven into the wood.
Consider what happens when you pre-drill a teeny-tiny pinhole of a hole, versus a hole slightly-smaller than the shaft of the screw, versus a hole equal to the size of the screw’s shaft. As the holes get bigger, the screws get easier to drive with less and less effort.
They enter the wood by two different methods.
The screw enters the wood by forcing the wood to split in a tiny area. It forcefully moves wood to either side of the fastener.
When you drill you are cutting the wood, you are not primarily pushing it to either side.
When you drive the screw in a pre-drilled hole it has to move less wood resulting in less force that may split the wood, and yet the threads will still catch (if you pre-drilled correctly.
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