C-Forum

installing ash gunnels on a mohawk rodeo, its my first time doing this. turns out ash is really hard wood! puttin these screws in is murder, any tips? i'm using #8 x 1 1/2 stainless, phillips. of course i've pre-drilled and counter sunk w/a 7/64 bit. thanks.

Use some lube on the screws, paraffin, beeswax, soap, or my favorite Sno-Pruf (leather waterproofing). Just remember to use a lube that is compatible with your finish. A screw gun is helpful also; turn the torque down so you don't overdrive the screws and finish up with a manual screwdriver if needed.

Tom

It is useful, if you have the "correct"length screws" to drill a larger through hole in the first gunwale half that the screw passes through. The screw threads should not be engaging the ash until they are into the second gunwale half. If you're not sure of the size of this through hole, just measure the diameter of the shank of the screw and add about .008" for the drill size.

HTH

al

I use #6's. Use a power tool to screw them in.
JK

If you plan on doing more gunwales in the future, just go ahead and get this-

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.a ... ,180,42240

Speeds things along nicely, only need one drill.

Sometime back I down loaded a very nice step by step instruction with great pictures of installing wood gunnels and now I can't find it. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

A 99 cent wax commode seal from the local hardware store works great. Leave it in its little plastic ring and just stick the screw tips in the wax. You can poke like 50 at a time in there and it makes progress flow much better. One seal will last through hundreds of screws. Just slip it back in the box when done and you'll save 99 cents the next time you need screw lube.

If you still have problems with the stainless (how does something so hard to cut seem so easy to twist off?) you can run a steel screw in first to cut threads and then back it out and insert the stainless. This is a common technique for brass.

Rapid Magazine had an article several or more years ago on replacing the plastic gunnels on a WOOZ (read Zoom) with wood.
I'd like to get my hands on it again.

Any ideas anyone?

Big Al

This site suggests these sized pilot holes...

http://www.boltdepot.com/Fastener-Infor ... -Size.aspx

... as Larry said, stainless is really softer than you think,
... and as you stated, Ash is really a hard word.

thanks for the info, gentlemen. i'll bump the pilot holes up to 1/8" and lube the screws