Tractor building and splitting wood

[Chicken411]

This may sound really dumb, but I was wondering how you all keep your wood from splitting when you build your portable runs? I noticed that many of them are made of fairly small pieces of wood (ie. not 2x4s), and you are able to put them together without splitting the wood. I have a hard time keeping a 2x3 from splitting when I put some screws in it. Do you use nail guns or is there some technique I don't know about?

Thanks

 

[petrelline]

Drill first, then put the screw in. Yeah, it's a huge pain in the rear. If you have two drills, one with the drill bit and one with the screw bit, it goes a lot faster.

 

[rufus]

Drill first, then coat the screw with beeswax or use an old soap chip. Then screw it in.

Rufus

 

[SteveH]

Gotta agree with the drilling lead holes and using a lubricate . If using nails , first turn the nail upside down and use the hammer to blunt the tip ; sounds crazy but works .

 

[Chicken411]

Thanks, that's exactly what I was looking for.