Repairing a stripped screw hole

We've all taken a knob to the forehead by yanking a drawer-pull out by the roots. If this hasn't happened to you, you're probably knob-intolerant, hanging your socks and underwear on specialized hangers in your closet instead of facing the unpredictability of a knob-inclusive lifestyle.

But if you're a regular person, you've stripped a screw or two in your day. You may have started early in life, as I did, swinging happily on a garden gate pretending to be Flying Magnifico at the circus until the hinge-screws failed and your act ended with crying and running into the house, the gate lying prone in the dust.

And remember on the Carol Burnett show when Tim Conway got his pants stuck on the doorknob and he just hung there with his feet dangling and couldn't get off the doorknob even though he tried really hard and Carol and Harvey Corman were incapable of continuing the skit for five full minutes? Well, I've tried that at home. My weight ripped the hinges out of the door. I was hurt in many ways. So after a lifetime of physical emergencies brought on by failing screws, I've built up an arsenal of tips.

Repairing a stripped screw hole is satisfying, with a comparatively low risk of injury. The goal is to plug the hole with something that has the proper density to hold the threads of the original screw (or a new one if you're not trying to maintain an object's authenticity).

When it comes to putting things in holes, people are creative. For example, here is a list of materials that human ingenuity has called upon for repairing stripped-out screw holes in everything from water-skis to bassoons:

• Wooden golf tees
• Lead solder
• Epoxy
• Nylon weed-trimmer line
• Fishing line
• Putty
• Plastic cable ties
• Pot-pourri
• Chopsticks
• Hardwood dowels
• Cotton balls soaked in carpenter's glue
• Sawdust mixed with carpenter's glue
• Auto-body filler (Bondo)
• Steel wool
• Softwood matchsticks
• Round hardwood toothpicks
• Flat softwood toothpicks
• Nail polish
• Wadded up tape
• Acrylic paint mixed with sawdust

The mind reels, doesn't it? Before trying any of these materials you can also use a longer or fatter screw that will reach sound wood. But where's the irritation in that? If the repair is that easy, do you really want to be involved? No. Because easy repairs can't be bragged about. The difficulty level of a repair is directly proportional to the fun you'll have telling people how you got that scar.

Now, when you're deciding what to plug a hole with, the trick is to match the strength of the existing material. For example, if you've got a stripped screw hole in a pine object, and you fill the hole with hardwood dowelling, you may find that when you drive the screw in it acts as a wedge, forcing the expanding hardwood to split the surrounding pine.

On the other hand, if you use hole-filling material that's too soft, crumbly or yielding, the screw will just strip out again and you'll be repeating this repair, only now you're annoyed, so things start badly and then get worse in unexpected ways. If you don't believe me, you should see my piano.

I haven't tried all of the materials on the above list, but my favourites are toothpicks, matchsticks or cotton batting soaked in glue, depending on the situation.

Steps

1. Try re-tightening the loose screw (or drawer pull) in the hole. If it spins in the hole, you need to move on to step two.
2. Remove the loose screw(s). This can be a pain. You might need to use a magnet or a pair of needle-nose pliers to pull the screw out.
3. Determine, if possible, what kind wood you're dealing with and what kind of grain you're screwing into. If you're screwing into end-grain, the wood will be exceedingly crumbly and difficult to anchor into, so you'll need to fill the hole PLUS use a longer screw.
4. Choose a filler material based on the hardness of the wood you're dealing with. If you can't tell what kind of wood you've got, use softwood matches or toothpicks, or cotton batting drenched in carpenter's glue.
5. For toothpicks or matchsticks, dip the ends in carpenter's glue and insert enough of them to fill the hole snugly. If you're using gluey cotton batting, stuff as much as you can into the hole (using the tip of a small screwdriver) until the goo is flush with the surface of the surrounding wood.
6. Let it dry. Toothpicks/matchsticks set up in about an hour. Gluey cotton batting takes overnight.
7. Score the exposed ends of the toothpicks or matchsticks using a utility knife, and then break them off flush with the surface of the surrounding wood. Sand if necessary.
8. Use an awl to make a pilot hole.
9. Replace the screw. If inserting the screw is very difficult, drill a small-diameter pilot hole and try again. Increase the size of the pilot hole as necessary - Don't risk forcing the screw and splitting the wood or stripping the head of the screw, which is a whole other headache.
10. Test your repair by swinging on the object. TEASING.

"Selma Safety" Says

1. If you're using matches, either break off the coated tips or dip them in water so you don't have an incendiary incident.
2. Wear safety glasses. Projectiles happen.