Which screw?

[goaliedad]

I am building a bed, using doors for the head and foot boards. A friend bought the doors thinking they were solid wood. Nope. The rails and stiles are a very coarse particle board with a very nice veneer.
I cut dados in the posts. But need to attach a cap from post to post
What screw do I use that will grip in the particle board and not pull out?

Hopefully I can find these locally.

[daddo]

I'm not looking at what you have, but I would use a 1" forstner bit and drill a blind hole about an inch from the end of the pressboard to install and glue a 1" dowel for the screw to attach to. The hole would then be unseen from the front.
The screw would depend how deep I needed it to go and how many I would use. All I had was deck screws when I attached mine to a post and they worked fine- drilling a equal hole in the post and a guide hole in the boards with the depth set with a forstner bit- then a dowel to cover.

[Cooler]

I tried screwing into the edge of particle board and the screws did not hold.  

I then drilled out a pilot hole that was large enough that the screw just barely gripped and could almost be screwed in using my fingertips.  

I filled the hole with a slow setting epoxy and then drove in the screw.  

You want to use the slowest setting epoxy available to allow it time to flow into the pores of the particle board.

You want the hole to be as large as possible to allow plenty of epoxy.

You want it to engage the threads slightly so that you can drive it home.  

I was using the screws to mount hardware.  For other applications I might have considered dowels.

In the past I had glued in dowels and then driven the screws into the dowel.  The epoxy was faster and easier and worked very well, though replacing hardware would be impossible.

[fredhargis]

I've used the blind hole and dowel trick, and it is a good solution. But if you can 't do the blind hole you might be able to find the Spax Multi Material screws locally. They should work as well as anything.

[jlanciani]

Confirmat screws are made specifically for particle board; https://www.amazon.com/HighPoint-Confirm...B0031TGSB2

[goaliedad]

I just installed dowels in the foot board. A fellow woodnetter made a very generous offer, but in the interest of time I did the dowels. Easy, quick and will work great. Thanks all

[Stwood_]

Confirmat screws are made specifically for particle board; https://www.amazon.com/HighPoint-Confirm...B0031TGSB2

That's what I was going to suggest. I seldom ever use those, but they do hold real good when needed.

[EdL]

Confirmat screws are made specifically for particle board; https://www.amazon.com/HighPoint-Confirm...B0031TGSB2

Just be aware those take a posi-drive bit, not a phillips.

Neither one fits the other well.

Ed

[Stwood_]

Seems mine are square drive. I'll find and look.