#5 Wood Screw Assortment Kit — Phillips Flat Head, Zinc Plated Carbon Steel, 6 Sizes
Product Introduction
Most wood screw kits are a gamble. You open the box and hope the threads are actually cut, the zinc is more than a cosmetic wash, and the case doesn't fall apart the third time you open it. We've torn down enough competitor kits to know the drill.
This #5 assortment is different because we make it ourselves — from cold heading to thread rolling to plating. There's no middleman repackaging bulk commodity screws. Every piece in this box ran through the same quality system that supplies automotive Tier-1 fasteners.
At 0.125" diameter with 20 threads per inch, #5 sits in a sweet spot. It's about 35% stronger than a #4 but noticeably less visible than a #6. Cabinet guys use it for face frames. Furniture shops reach for it on drawer slides and hinges. DIY folks grab it for shelf brackets and picture rails. The six lengths cover pretty much anything you'd do with a screw this size — from shallow 1/2" hardware mounting to full 2" framing connections.
We pack more of the sizes people actually burn through. You'll get more 1" and 1-1/4" pieces than 1/2" or 2" — because that's how jobs actually go. The case has a real latch, not those snap-fit tabs that break after a week in the truck. And if something is ever wrong, we can trace it to the exact heat number and plating batch. That's factory-direct accountability.
Full Specification Table
Dimensional Specs — ASME B18.6.1
| Length | Nom. Dia. | Head Dia. Max | Head Dia. Min | Head Ht. Ref | TPI | Driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/2" (12.7 mm) | #5 | 0.252" | 0.220" | 0.075" | 20 | Phillips #2 |
| 3/4" (19.1 mm) | #5 | 0.252" | 0.220" | 0.075" | 20 | Phillips #2 |
| 1" (25.4 mm) | #5 | 0.252" | 0.220" | 0.075" | 20 | Phillips #2 |
| 1-1/4" (31.8 mm) | #5 | 0.252" | 0.220" | 0.075" | 20 | Phillips #2 |
| 1-1/2" (38.1 mm) | #5 | 0.252" | 0.220" | 0.075" | 20 | Phillips #2 |
| 2" (50.8 mm) | #5 | 0.252" | 0.220" | 0.075" | 20 | Phillips #2 |
Thread & Shank — Cut vs Rolled
| Parameter | Cut Thread | Rolled Thread |
|---|---|---|
| Major Thread Dia. Max/Min | 0.129" / 0.118" | 0.129" / 0.118" |
| Body Dia. Max/Min | 0.129" / 0.118" | 0.107" / 0.096" |
| Thread Depth Min | 0.018" | 0.018" |
| Thread Coverage | ~2/3 of screw length | Min 4x dia. or 2/3 length |
| Best For | Softwood, general joinery | Hardwood, dense materials |
This kit ships with cut thread screws. That's the traditional profile — shank tapers, body diameter matches the thread major. Works great in pine, poplar, plywood, and MDF. If you need rolled thread for a hardwood production run, we can do that too. Just ask.
Size Chart
Pilot Hole Guide
Here's what we recommend based on years of shop testing. These numbers assume a standard #5 wood screw with our gimlet point. If you're working near an edge or in brittle material, go up one drill size.
| Wood Type | Softwood Pilot | Hardwood Pilot | Countersink Dia. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pine / Spruce | 1/16" (1.6 mm) | 5/64" (2.0 mm) | 9/32" (7.1 mm) |
| Poplar / Alder | 5/64" (2.0 mm) | 3/32" (2.4 mm) | 9/32" (7.1 mm) |
| Oak / Maple | 3/32" (2.4 mm) | 7/64" (2.8 mm) | 9/32" (7.1 mm) |
| MDF / Particle Board | 1/16" (1.6 mm) | N/A | 9/32" (7.1 mm) |
| Plywood (birch, etc.) | 5/64" (2.0 mm) | 3/32" (2.4 mm) | 9/32" (7.1 mm) |
Quick rule: in softwood under 3/4" thick, skip the pilot entirely. Our point geometry handles it. For anything you'd be upset about splitting — cherry cabinet stiles, for instance — drill the pilot. Takes ten extra seconds and you won't regret it.
How the Sizes Map to Real Work
| Length | Typical Material | Common Job |
|---|---|---|
| 1/2" | 3/8" – 1/2" | Drawer slides, hinges, thin back panels |
| 3/4" | 1/2" – 5/8" | Shelf pins, corner blocks, small brackets |
| 1" | 3/4" stock | Face frames, jig assembly, general joinery |
| 1-1/4" | 3/4" – 1" | Cabinet box assembly, furniture frames |
| 1-1/2" | 1" – 1-1/4" | Heavy face frames, door framing |
| 2" | 1-1/2" + | Structural blocking, multi-layer lamination |
Applications
A #5 screw this size range shows up in more places than you'd think. Here's where our customers use them.
Cabinet Making
Face frame to box assembly. Corner blocking. Shelf pin rails. Hinge mounting — especially on overlay hinges where a #6 head would catch the door. The flat head sits flush so your hinge plate mounts flat. We ship a lot of these to cabinet shops in the Midwest and Ontario.
Furniture Manufacturing
Drawer slide mounting is the big one. #5 x 1/2" into 1/2" ply drawer boxes — perfect thread engagement without poking through. Also chair rail assembly, decorative trim attachment, and anywhere you need holding power without the screw head drawing attention.
Millwork & Trim
Baseboard returns, crown molding blocking, window casing assembly. The 1" and 1-1/4" lengths handle most trim situations. Countersink the head, fill with putty, paint over it — invisible.
Workshop Jigs & Fixtures
Router templates, assembly jigs, drill guides. You want a screw that comes out clean when you reconfigure the jig. Our thread doesn't chew up the hole on removal the way drywall screws do. That matters after a few dozen setup changes.
DIY & Home Repairs
Shelf brackets into studs. Picture rail installation. Small furniture repair. The kit format means you're not driving to the hardware store because you're one size short. It's the kind of thing you keep in the laundry room drawer and pull out twice a month.
Why Choose Fasto?
1. We run our own production lines.
Cold heading, thread rolling, heat treatment, plating — all in-house. When your order ships, it comes from the same factory that made the screws. Nobody's repackaging anything. That means when a customer calls with a question, we can pull the batch record in five minutes.
2. Automotive-grade quality, applied to wood screws.
Our IATF 16949 certification isn't marketing fluff. It's an audit we go through every year. Same quality system that Ford and Toyota require from their fastener suppliers. For a wood screw kit, it's overkill. We're fine with that.
3. We fixed the stuff that drives people crazy.
Before we designed this kit, we spent time reading one-star reviews on Amazon and Home Depot. Stripped heads. Rust in the box. Cases with broken latches. Sizes nobody uses while the common lengths run out in a week. Every feature in this product exists because someone else's kit failed at it.
4. Twenty years of exporting to North America and Europe.
We know the standards — ANSI, ASME, DIN, ISO. We know the labeling requirements. We know that a Dutch buyer and a Texas contractor read a spec sheet differently. The documentation you need is already written. CE, RoHS, REACH — it's all on file.
5. We can handle your volume.
Need 500 kits for a pilot program? Fine. Need 50,000 for a national retailer promotion? Also fine. We keep safety stock of all six sizes and packaging components. Rush orders don't scare us — they're just Thursday.
Pain Points & Solutions
We've been selling fasteners long enough to know exactly where cheap kits fail. Each of these six pain points came from actual customer complaints — warranty claims, return reasons, and jobsite gripes. Here's what we did about them.
Problem 1: The heads strip on the last turn.
You're driving the screw home. One more quarter-turn and it's flush. Then the bit spins. Now you've got a half-driven screw you can't tighten or remove. Usually it's the recess — too shallow, off-center, or just badly formed.
- Phillips #2 recess cold-formed to ASME B18.6.1 tolerance — depth and concentricity checked every production batch.
- We test recess engagement at 80% of the screw's ultimate torsional strength. If it cams out below that threshold, the whole batch gets flagged.
- It won't save you from a worn-out driver bit, though. Replace your bits when the tip rounds over. That's usually the real culprit.
Problem 2: Rust spots show up in a month.
The screws looked silver in the box. Four weeks in a humid garage or coastal workshop, and they've got orange freckles. That's what happens when the zinc coating is barely there — a quick flash dip that looks fine at first and does nothing for corrosion.
- Minimum 5µm zinc thickness, verified on an XRF spectrometer. Not a guess, not a sample average — every production lot gets measured.
- Clear chromate passivation on top of the zinc. Extra barrier, almost no added cost.
- 48 hours in a neutral salt spray chamber (ASTM B117) with zero red rust. Most budget kits start rusting at 12–16 hours.
Problem 3: The point is dull and the wood splits.
You press the screw into the wood and it wanders. Or it catches and splits the board before the threads even engage. Sometimes both. Dull points are the most common manufacturing defect we see in competitor teardowns — and the hardest to spot without driving the screw.
- Gimlet point ground at 25° included angle. Displaces fiber rather than cutting it, which actually increases holding power.
- In pine, poplar, and MDF up to 3/4" thick, no pilot hole needed. That saves real time on cabinet and furniture assembly lines.
- Point geometry checked on an optical comparator every two hours during production. Tooling gets replaced on a schedule, not when someone notices it's dull.
Problem 4: The case breaks and everything mixes together.
Third time you open the box, the hinge cracks. Then the latch stops catching. Then the screws migrate between compartments every time the kit shifts in your truck. You end up with a jumbled mess and no way to tell a 1" from a 1-1/4" without measuring.
- Living hinge rated for 10,000+ cycles. We tested it. It outlasts the screws.
- Snap-latch closure that stays shut after 100 drops from 1 meter onto concrete. Your truck floor is way gentler than that.
- Compartment dividers that go all the way up to the lid. Even if the case takes a hit, screws can't jump the wall into the next compartment.
Problem 5: The kit is stuffed with sizes nobody uses.
You buy a "300-piece kit" and discover half the count is 1/4" screws you'll never touch, while the 1" and 1-1/4" compartments are nearly empty. It's a marketing trick — inflate the piece count with garbage sizes.
- Six sizes chosen from real consumption data — the lengths that cabinet shops, furniture builders, and DIY users actually deplete.
- More pieces of the high-volume sizes, fewer of the niche ones. The box label tells you the exact count per size. No games.
- If your shop burns through a particular size faster than others, we can do custom distributions on wholesale orders. Just tell us your mix.
Problem 6: Thread quality is all over the place.
Some screws in the batch have clean, sharp threads. Others have shallow, rounded crests that barely bite. Inconsistent holding power means some joints feel tight during assembly but loosen up after a few weeks of use.
- Thread rolling dies replaced on a preventive maintenance calendar — not run until they fail.
- Optical comparator check every 2 hours during production. Profile deviation gets caught same-shift, not during final QC.
- Same thread rolling equipment we use for automotive fasteners. The tooling precision carries over, even on a small #5 wood screw.
FAQ
Q1: What's the actual size of a #5 wood screw?
- A #5 screw measures 0.125 inches at the shank — that's exactly 1/8", or about 3.18 mm. Threads are 20 per inch. The flat head runs 0.220" to 0.252" across, and you drive it with a standard Phillips #2 bit. For comparison, a #4 is 0.112" and a #6 is 0.138". This one sits right between them — strong enough for cabinet work, small enough to stay out of sight.
Q2: #5 vs #6 — which one should I buy?
- If appearance matters — furniture, visible joinery, anything where the screw head shows — go #5. The head is about 10% smaller. If you need maximum holding power and don't care about looks, #6 gives you roughly 25–30% more pull-out in softwood. Both use the same PH2 bit. A lot of shops keep both on hand and grab whichever fits the job.
Q3: Do I really need to drill pilot holes?
- In softwood under 3/4" — pine, spruce, poplar — no. Our gimlet point starts clean and doesn't wander. For hardwood like oak or maple, drill a pilot. Same goes for anything near a board edge (within about 1/2") or in material thinner than 3/8". Use 5/64" for softwood pilot holes, 3/32" for hardwood. And always test on a scrap piece first. Moisture content changes how wood behaves more than people think.
Q4: Can these go outdoors?
- Indoors, yes. Covered porch or shed, probably fine. Direct rain, ground contact, or pressure-treated lumber — no. Zinc plating is good corrosion protection, not great. It'll do 48 hours in a salt spray chamber without rust, but constant wet-dry cycles will eventually beat it. For real outdoor use, step up to stainless steel or coated deck screws. We sell those too.
Q5: How many pieces per size?
- The count varies by kit configuration, but the distribution is weighted — more pieces in the 1" and 1-1/4" compartments, fewer in 1/2" and 2". That's based on actual consumption patterns from our wholesale customers. The front label tells you the exact count per size. For OEM orders, we can customize the mix to match what your customers actually burn through.
Q6: Cut thread vs rolled thread — does it matter for what I'm doing?
- For most woodworking, cut thread is the standard and it's what ships in this kit. The shank tapers, which helps pull two boards tight together. Rolled thread has a constant shank diameter — better for hardwoods and precision joinery where you want uniform hole fill. If you're building cabinets or furniture in softwood and plywood, cut thread is what you want.
Q7: MDF and particle board — will the screws hold?
- They will, but don't expect miracles. The sharp gimlet point enters MDF cleanly without blowing out the surface. For face fastening, you're good. For screwing into the edge of particle board, drill a 1/16" pilot first — the core layer doesn't have much screw-holding capacity. In 3/4" MDF, a #5 screw gives you roughly 180–220 lbs of pull-out per inch of engagement. Stop driving when the head seats; over-torquing just strips the hole.
Q8: What driver bit should I use?
- Phillips #2. Preferably one with a magnetic tip and those little anti-cam-out ribs. The magnet holds the screw for one-hand starts. The ribs grip the recess when torque peaks. Most stripped screws aren't the screw's fault — it's a worn-out bit with rounded corners. Replace your PH2 bits regularly, especially if you're driving hundreds of screws a day. Wera and DeWalt impact-rated bits last the longest in our shop.
Q9: What standards do these actually meet?
- ASME B18.6.1 for the screw dimensions — head, thread, recess. ASTM B633 Type III SC1 for the zinc plating. Our factory holds ISO 9001:2015 and IATF 16949:2016. The products are RoHS 2 and REACH compliant. We can provide full material certs and test reports for commercial orders — just ask your sales rep.
Q10: How strong is a single #5 wood screw?
- It depends on the wood. In standard SPF framing lumber with 3/4" thread engagement, expect about 190–220 lbs of pull-out before failure. In red oak at the same depth, closer to 280–320 lbs. Shear strength runs about 160–180 lbs in SPF. These numbers drop near edges, in wet wood, and in material with irregular grain. For anything structural, have an engineer run the numbers — these are workshop guidelines, not engineering specs.