FastenMaster FMHLGM412-50 HeadLOK Heavy-Duty Flathead Fastener, 4-1/2 Inches, 50-Count

robust, easy to fasten, should hold securely for a long time!

I am building a 32 x 32 retaining wall with landscaping timbers to enclose my childrens playset. Found these screws and took a gamble. It may seem strange to get excited about screws...but these are really amazing. In fact, Im ordering another box of them right now. A strong drill bit comes in the box. Even better, no stripping of the screw is possible since the drill bit rests inside the screw very deeply!

Almost a 5 had a couple that had burrs in the heads making them un-usable bad quality control

Cheap material. I tried to screw it into a tree to hold something. I used the drill to open the first 5”, but it still strip the head. Used a good quality 5” screw that I had instead, and that worked fine. Perhaps you can use it for very soft wood.

Na

use w a powerful drill/driver. drill a pilot hole when necessary (rarely) to prevent splitting... I use them for framing, for restoration. Clamp a sister to exstg pc, drive 2 or 3 Timberloks, then you can undo to adjust position or re-cut. When its right and tight, Ill nail the pieces - maybe leave TLs in or remove them for reuse. They can be driven in places where you cant swing a hammer.

I highly recommend these screws. First, they are long enough and strong enough for most (perhaps all?) household apps; cabinets, tv wall mounts, etc. Second, the star drive (included in each box) means that it is virtually impossible to strip out the head. This happens all too often with Phillips heads. The big box stores charge about $1 apiece for these in boxes of 12. Get this box of 50 and you wont regret it.

The good thing about this is that they give you the spider drive bit for the screws. But I bought a box of 50 6 and I got 49 6 and 2 4. How that happened I do not know but if i needed exactly 50 6 screws I would be screwed. Pun Intended.

I had a couple of diverse uses for these HeadLOK screw. One use was a trim application and the other a stair repair. These screws worked well for both situations. I have a 10 foot x 5/4 x 6 piece of Bubinga transition board between my tile kitchen floor and my carpeted living room. If youre not familiar with Bubinga, the pieces I have are reclaimed 40+ year old wood that is basically Brazilian Walnut, is hard as rock, easy to machine but tough on machine tools due to its high silica content. My problem was that over the 10 foot run, I could not pull the Bubinga close to the floor with standard wood screws because its too thick and the Bubinga was always squeaking and flexing. I tried shims and then floor leveler. Nothing worked. Then I used these HeadLOK lags to pull it down and they worked great. I didnt mind the “steam punk” look of the wide heads on the Bubinga - it looks sort of cool (see photo). I pre-drilled the Bubinga for the HeadLOK lags - I didnt want to split a 40 year old piece of rare hardwood. My other issue was a site built basement staircase. The stair treads were pulling away from the stringers. The HeadLOK lags worked great to pull it all back together. The one thing you need to know is that the Spider Drive bits required to drive these lags cannot be replaced with any other bit on the planet. I literally have 200 odd sized drive bits - Torx, Allen, Torx security, 1-3 square drive, Phillips JIS and every other bit you can think of but without the Spider Drive drive bit, youre unscrewed - you cant drive these bits. That sort of sucks but these bits also drive very securely, better than Torx. I can see what customers complained about the missing drive bit in some reviews because there is no substitute I am aware of - if you know of one, let me know. In the attached photo, you can see the Bubinga trim board with the HeadLOK lags in place, I used a 17mm forstner bit to recess the HeadLOK heads so they are flat to the surface and for the first time in 15+ years, the Bubinga transition board does NOT flex or squeak. Hope that helps!

Not only did these work very well - I needed to add some 4x4 supports for a cover to an existing deck - but they look good one installed. Not something youd normally credit to a screw. Worth the money.