I’ve heard this comparison so many times I ran some experiments. A number 8 1.5" coated decking screw inserted into two one by pine boards through the grain by a hammer holds about half as well as one inserted using a screwdriver. One hit to drive the screw is better than several, but a two hit approach (one to set the angle of the screw tip, the second to send it home) was most reliable. Drilling a pilot hole before hammering improves things pretty significantly, up towards 3/4 of the holding power of a driver driven screw.
On the other hand, even very slight misalignment between the hammer swing and the screw can result in failure, and the board was always more damaged by a hammer inserted screw.
A spoon is not a screwdriver though. It will function as one for a flathead, but if it’s a phillips or robbie you’re shit out of luck, a hammer will still drive those (poorly)
‘Best’ is context bound. If you can’t use it properly, it simply isn’t the best choice and shouldn’t be used
Like a hammer is better than a spoon for driving a screw but neither of them are the tool for the job
You could use them together by using the spoon to put torque on the screw while hammering it in
Depends on the drive of the screw; if it’s a flathead, the spoon is probably better
I’ve heard this comparison so many times I ran some experiments. A number 8 1.5" coated decking screw inserted into two one by pine boards through the grain by a hammer holds about half as well as one inserted using a screwdriver. One hit to drive the screw is better than several, but a two hit approach (one to set the angle of the screw tip, the second to send it home) was most reliable. Drilling a pilot hole before hammering improves things pretty significantly, up towards 3/4 of the holding power of a driver driven screw.
On the other hand, even very slight misalignment between the hammer swing and the screw can result in failure, and the board was always more damaged by a hammer inserted screw.
A spoon is not a screwdriver though. It will function as one for a flathead, but if it’s a phillips or robbie you’re shit out of luck, a hammer will still drive those (poorly)