Cheshirechappie
Established Member
I gather from ferreting around in old books that many cabinetmakers' and joiners' kits in the late 19th and early 20th centuries contained a set of countersinks (snail for wood, rose for brass and flat for steel) and a couple of rimers (reamers), one square and one half-round. The reason was that hardware had to fitted to the screws available by the craftsman - so rimer to fit the hole to the screw shank, countersink to fit the screwhead. As manufacturing of hardware improved, and presumably standardisation of screw sizes came in, that necessity waned.
However, if you're fitting screws to hardware, it's not much more effort once the job is installed, to pull a screw out, give the countersink a twirl with a countersink, and pop the screw back in with the slot nicely aligned. In fairness, probably a detail reserved for high class work, but not difficult if the tools are part of a standard kit.
Another tip I picked up somewhere (but haven't tried yet) is to keep a few steel screws the same size as the usual brass ones. If the steel ones (which can have a notch filed along the length of the thread to form a sort of cutting edge) are put in first, they 'tap' the hole for the brass ones, thus reducing the torque required on the 'finish' screw, and the risk of shearing the head or mangling the slot. Especially useful in harder woods.
However, if you're fitting screws to hardware, it's not much more effort once the job is installed, to pull a screw out, give the countersink a twirl with a countersink, and pop the screw back in with the slot nicely aligned. In fairness, probably a detail reserved for high class work, but not difficult if the tools are part of a standard kit.
Another tip I picked up somewhere (but haven't tried yet) is to keep a few steel screws the same size as the usual brass ones. If the steel ones (which can have a notch filed along the length of the thread to form a sort of cutting edge) are put in first, they 'tap' the hole for the brass ones, thus reducing the torque required on the 'finish' screw, and the risk of shearing the head or mangling the slot. Especially useful in harder woods.