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Stripped Threads in Wood

Nov 27, 2008
Uncategorized

We’ve all seen it happen, you go to tighten a screw and it just spins free not grabbing the wood at all.  There is a way to fix that. 

First remove the screw and whatever it is mounting.  Then you can take any piece of wood roughly the same diameter as the hole and drive it into the hole.  The harder the wood, the less tight it needs to be in the hole because you are going to put a screw back in there too.  Drive it in until it won’t go further, then break or cut off any that is protruding from the hole.

 

 

 

  

The size of the hole determines what you use to plug it.  Very small holes can be filled with toothpicks or kitchen match sticks.  An ideal filler for #10 or #12 screw holes is a golf tee.  Just drive it in and then break the head off.  Once the hole has been filled, just replace whatever is mounted by the screw and turn the screw into place.  If you’ve plugged the hole too tightly you may need to put a little lubricant on the screw before it can be turned into place.

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3 Comments

  1. fran  •  Feb 28, 2009 @7:44 am

    Personaly I would not recomend this type of fix, because if the host wood is soft or old, it can split. The best way to do it is get acrylic wood filler (it comes in a4 oz bucket or a tube to inject into screw holes) make sure the wood filler is drillable/sandable, and non shrinking/cracking, let it cure for an hour if applied by spatula via a thin surface, or if injected into a stripped screw hole let it cure from 4-8 hours depending on the deepness/ thicknes of the hole, you can pick up a wood filler at you local hardware store or larger chain, for abour $2 or less for a 4oz

  2. admin  •  Feb 28, 2009 @9:22 am

    Thanks Fran,

    Your recommendation is certainly another way but may be beyond the ability or resources of some people. Don’t forget that you also need drill bits and a drill for your method.

  3. AndrewBoldman  •  Jun 4, 2009 @6:49 am

    Great post! Just wanted to let you know you have a new subscriber- me!



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