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Countersinking a screw helps the screw head lie flush with the surface of the wood to better conceal the hardware. If you want to make your next woodworking project look clean and professional, you can easily countersink the screws with just a few tools. Start by drilling a pilot hole for your screw so you can thread it in easily without splitting the wood. After that, you can use a countersink cutter to drill a larger hole for the screw head. Once the screw is in place, you can either leave it exposed or conceal it using wood putty!
Tip: If you aren’t able to measure the drill bit, hold it in front of the screw so it lines up with the shaft. If you don’t see any of the screw’s threading behind the bit, then the drill bit is too large for making a pilot hole.
Tip: If you plan on hiding the screws so they aren’t visible on the surface, then you can make the countersink hole about 1⁄8 inch (0.32 cm) wider than the screw head diameter. That way, the screw head will be lower than the wood’s surface and you can easily fill it in.