Realized old drywall screws are basically worthless now

I was going through my grandfather's old workshop last weekend and found a 5 gallon bucket of drywall screws from the 80s. Tried using them on a ceiling job and about 1 in 4 just snapped off at the head before they even bit in. Got curious and looked up the tensile strength specs - turns out modern screws are rated 3x higher for the same gauge. Anyone else run into old hardware that just doesn't hold up anymore?

2 comments

2 Comments

quinns201mo ago

Picked up a tub of these at an estate sale once and learned the hard way that the real issue is the steel quality, not just age. Back then a lot of screws were made with lower grade carbon steel that gets brittle over decades, especially if they sat in a damp garage. Modern screws use hardened steel with better tempering, so they actually bend instead of snapping clean off. You might have better luck if you pre-drill with a bit slightly larger than the shaft, takes longer but stops the heads from twisting off. Have you checked if they're zinc coated versus the newer ceramic coatings?

tyler_hall91mo agoMost Upvoted

Yeah man I feel you on that pre-drilling tip, @quinns20. I grabbed a set of old cabinet screws from my grandpa's barn a few years back and about half of them snapped before I even got them fully seated. I actually started using a drill bit that's like 1/64th bigger than the screw shaft on anything pre-2000 and it saves a ton of frustration. Also if the heads are already twisting off you can sometimes clamp some vice grips on the threads that are still sticking out and back them out that way, but it's a pain. Honestly if they're zinc coated and have any rust pitting I'd just toss them unless you really need that specific look for a restoration.