Electric drills and screws are generally in a love-hate relationship when it comes to screw-drilling into softwood without preparing it beforehand. However, let’s get real here. Things happen and just the slightest wrong angel with your drill and you are looking at a screw with a stripped head. Drilling a screw into decking or even drywall can mean a broken screw. The best way to cope when dealing with such difficult wood material, is to drill a pilot hole first. Then you can drill your screw home safe and sound.
Removing broken screws:
Some times screws break above the wood. In such cases you can use pliers to get them out. If you have a broken screw that is buried in the wood then the easiest fix may be to just leave it in place and putty the hole over. Of course, there are a few solutions in case you absolutely have to extract the broken screw, and can’t go on with your work without doing so.
The screw extractor would be a good solution to your problem. This tool was designed for just such a situation. You can find it in any woodworking tool shop. It is a metal flute-shaped tool with toothed edges. You can use it to extract a plug out of the wood and replace it with a wood dowel coated in glue so it won’t break free. Then a new screw can be drilled in the same place with no problem.
If you would rather not use the special tool you can dig around the broken screw until you can grasp the end with pliers and use them to back the screw out of the wood. Then it is a matter of cleaning out the hole so you can insert a dowel or wood scrap and glue it in place. When this is set you can put in a new screw.
Use some scrap wood that matches your project and cut a plug so you can use it to repair the hole that was left from the broken screw. This way the grains will match. When your screw breaks in the middle of attaching hinges you may be able to affix the head of the screw in to the hole by using an epoxy resin. When it comes to hinges, using the screw repair method will probably just result in the screw splitting the wood and usually one screw is sufficient to hold the hinge. And just imagine what would happen if the screw were to bend in the hole. More problems? You can bet on it.
How you can avoid breaking screws:
Any time there is hard wood involved a pilot hole is necessary. If the hinge you are installing requires brass screws, the best procedure is to screw in steel screws first and then take them out and put in the brass screws. If by chance you come across a screw that you just can’t drill into the wood, you can use either wax or soap on it to ease the process.
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