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I am building an Adirondack bench and all the wood is cut and I am ready to put it together. I went to the store to buy screws and realized that most of the exterior screws can stain cedar wood. I believe that the stainless steel screws will work but they are quite expensive. I am looking at the Power Pro premium exterior wood screws and the Grip Rite Plus coating exterior screws.
Has anybody used these before for cedar wood?
thanks
Jay
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Unless you paint and hide the furniture from exposure, it won't last long enough to justify stainless hardware. Here in the Pac. NW, I've built several sets over the years in Western Cedar. Depending on wood maturity WRC furniture will survive 10 to 20 years. Since connections are the first point of failure, you might reassess stainless. You can always salvage the hardware for the next build.
Don't know your Cedar species, but they pretty much do the same thing to metal.
I find the coated deck screws work well with least iron stain. Brands don't hang around long enough to use the one that worked on the next build. I would suggest square drive for its cleaner look, and general lack of deformation which exposes raw metal to weather and staining. Avoid endgrain penetration. Also, you need to pre-drill WRC; it splits, even months after the build.
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(06-16-2019, 09:33 AM)cme4dk Wrote: I am building an Adirondack bench and all the wood is cut and I am ready to put it together. I went to the store to buy screws and realized that most of the exterior screws can stain cedar wood. I believe that the stainless steel screws will work but they are quite expensive. I am looking at the Power Pro premium exterior wood screws and the Grip Rite Plus coating exterior screws.
Has anybody used these before for cedar wood?
thanks
Jay
Sorry Jay I do not know about Ceder.
My Brother in Law uses them a lot for green treated decks and a lot of other outside work but do not know their outcome either.
You can use the Kreg screw kit to do it on the bottom sides of the wood and the screws will never show.
I just bought a box of 1" and 1.5" and both only cost $6 or 7 something for box of 50 on the 1.5 and 100 for the box of 1". I would recommend the 1.5 to 2" to use on the decks and they are Stainless Steel
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(06-16-2019, 09:33 AM)cme4dk Wrote: I am building an Adirondack bench and all the wood is cut and I am ready to put it together. I went to the store to buy screws and realized that most of the exterior screws can stain cedar wood. I believe that the stainless steel screws will work but they are quite expensive. I am looking at the Power Pro premium exterior wood screws and the Grip Rite Plus coating exterior screws.
Has anybody used these before for cedar wood?
The total price differential might be two bucks a chair? Worth it to stop the staining. Don't be so cheap.
I'd use torx over square drive, personally.
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I built 4 cedar Adirondack chairs in the last year... used these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018UP...UTF8&psc=1
I would have preferred torx too.. but the square was better than phillips
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All I use outside anymore is either a ceramic coated screw (like deckmate screws) or stainless.
I used the griprite triple coated super special yadda yadda ones 12 years ago on my deck at our old house. 5 years in the heads stared to show signs of corrosion and now all have started to rust. Built the fence the next year with deckmates and they are still perfect 11 years later. They come in olive green and a tan color (for cedar). Ive always got them at home depot.
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I have built many chairs using northern white cedar. I use deck screws from Menards. Coated with some sort of tan finish. They have worked very well. I built a fence at least 7 years ago- no issues
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I have used coated exterior screws on my Adirondack chairs. They have not been stain-free, though it's a lot less than most screws. I have used stainless as well, and they seem to be a lot cleaner.
Cedar lasts longer than people think, even completely untreated. Good fasteners do matter.
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(06-16-2019, 09:33 AM)cme4dk Wrote: I am building an Adirondack bench and all the wood is cut and I am ready to put it together. I went to the store to buy screws and realized that most of the exterior screws can stain cedar wood. I believe that the stainless steel screws will work but they are quite expensive. I am looking at the Power Pro premium exterior wood screws and the Grip Rite Plus coating exterior screws.
Has anybody used these before for cedar wood?
thanks
Jay
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My experience with coated deck screws is they will eventually rust, especially where the threads go into the wood.
So if the chair will be out in the elements, I would avoid them.