Damaged screws are troublesome — but don’t despair

Posted: February 20, 2010

Any home-improvement project that
involves wood and wood screws opens
the door to troublesome screw issues.
There are three frustrating situations: a
stripped screw head, a screw spinning
around in stripped wood, and (the worst)
a broken-off screw head. Many thanks to
my students who have offered some
handy tricks they’ve learned.

Tools and materials:

Phillips and flat screwdrivers

Electric drill

2 to 4 toothpicks

Wood or Elmer’s glue

Wide rubber band

Small pair of locking pliers (a brand
name is Vise-Grip)

Needle-nose pliers (not pictured)

Extractor kit ($3.49)

Broken-off screw head:

1. Try to get hold of the top of the

2. If that doesn’t work, use a flat-head
screwdriver to push the wood down
around the post.

3. Attach small locking pliers to the post
and turn the screw counter-clockwise to
remove.

You may have to repair the wood around
the hole.

Stripped Phillips screw head: the
grooves, shaped like a plus sign (+),
have been worn away:

1. Try different sizes of Phillips
screwdrivers, press down, trying to get
screwdriver to catch in the head.

2. Use a wide rubber band on top of the
screw, press and turn the screwdriver to
“catch” the screw.

3. If it turns, when the screw head is

4. An extractor kit comes with a regular
drill bit and a strange-looking drill bit
called an extractor. You drill a hole into
the center of the screw, insert extractor
bit into drill, push down into drilled hole
and turn the drill in reverse (counter-
clockwise).

Stripped wood around screw:

1. Pull loose screw out.

2. Add glue to 2 or 3 toothpicks.

3. Insert toothpicks into hole in the
wood, alongside the screw.

4. Drill screw partially into hole, break off
tops of toothpicks and drive the screw all
the way in as normal.

Any tricks you have would be welcome.
Send e-mail to flipt@att .net.