Metallics RSDS3V 8 x 1-3/4 in. Bugle Head Star Drive Deck Screws - Steel Yellow Zinc - Type 17 - Threads - Each

A T20 star bit. The RSDS3V uses a flat six-lobe (star) recess, so a T20 Torx driver seats fully and lets you drive at high torque without the cam-out you get from a Phillips deck screw. Keep a spare bit in the pouch if you're running the full 500 count jar.

No. The RSDS3V carries a Type 17 auger point, and the chip cavity clears material ahead of the threads so the screw drives without a pilot hole, including in denser woods. That's the whole point of the Type 17 cut, and it's what keeps a deck crew moving on a board-by-board install.

The RSDS3V is a steel screw with a yellow zinc dichromate finish. That coating handles covered and general exterior duty, but it is not stainless and it is not a coating matched to ACQ or copper-based treated lumber. For a wet, salt, or ground-contact deck, or for screws going into modern pressure-treated stock, move to a stainless or a coated-for-treated-lumber screw instead.

Yes on both. The RSDS3V is flagged compliant for ARRA and for Buy American, which is the box a government, school, or healthcare procurement officer has to tick before the fastener line item clears. Country of origin is listed as multiple.

That's what the bugle head is for. The head measures 0.285 to 0.331 inches across and only 0.108 inches tall, and the tapered underside pulls itself down into softwood so the top sits flush without a separate countersink. In hardwood decking the taper can crush fibers instead of sinking cleanly, so ease the trigger at the end of the drive.

Nine threads per inch, cut as a UNC coarse thread. That coarse, deep-cut pitch is what you want in wood: fewer, taller threads pack more fiber between them and resist pull-out better than a fine thread would. It is a wood thread, not a machine thread, so it will not run into a tapped hole or a nut.

AISI 1018 to 1022 low-carbon steel, case hardened in the usual way for a Type 17 point. It is a standard deck-screw grade: it drives and holds well in wood, and it is not a structural fastener. Do not substitute it for a lag screw, a structural wood screw, or anything carrying a rated shear load on framing connections.

For mounting a box, backer board, or a wood blocking run, a #8 x 1-3/4 star drive deck screw works and drives without pre-drilling. What it is not is a structural or code-rated connector fastener, and the flat bugle head is meant to sink below the surface rather than clamp against a metal flange. If you need the head to bear on sheet metal, use a pan or hex washer head screw instead.

4.15 pounds for the jar, which measures 4.5 x 7.25 x 4.5 inches. Worth knowing if you're palletizing a fastener order for a multi-family or MRO stock room and figuring shelf depth.