Replies

1. 
   oldusty | Dec 25, 2006 09:50pm | #1

   Gedaliah ,

               you could take a small gouge shaped tool or tubing with teeth filed in and circle the broke screw until you can dig it out .

           sharpen a dowel to fit the old hole , glue it in , let dry then replace the screw .

        good   luck                  dusty

1. 
   gedaliahblum | Dec 25, 2006 10:04pm | #2

   thanks, though the gouge os out of the question I think. I dont want to have to spend hours sharpening it afterwards.

   What are you refering to in regards to a tube?http://www.gedaliahblumfurniture.com

1. 
   oldusty | Dec 26, 2006 01:18am | #6

      The gouge works much like the extractors , except you can make more of a cone shaped hole that you plug . You circle around the broken screw without actually cutting into the metal , only wood contacts the gouge .

    

2. 
   BarryO | Dec 25, 2006 10:36pm | #3

   These work great for me:

   http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=983

    

3. 
   BigNat | Dec 26, 2006 12:09am | #4

   The extractors in the previous post work like a charm with one caveat;
   The teeth are designed to be used in a drill set to reverse, so you can't use them in a drill press. I usually drill a hole in a block of wood to match the diameter of the extractor, clamp the block over the screw and drill the screw out with a hand drill.

   When installing solid cherry passage doors on boats I encountered this problem too many times to count. Now I mount my hinges using steel screws of a size to match the brass ones and replace them with brass ones once the door is fit and hung. Haven't lost one since. An ounce of prevention......

   Hope this helps

   Nathan

4. 
   BruceS | Dec 26, 2006 12:38am | #5

   Plug Cutter ?

   Work Safe,  Count to 10 when your done for the day !!

   Bruce S. 

    

5. 
   MikeHennessy | Dec 26, 2006 03:14pm | #7

   This is one of those topics that come up every few months. A search will likely net you lots of posts with advice. There are a few ways to do this, involving extractors, plug cutters, etc. I like the method using a rolled pin in a drill. It leaves a smaller hole and there's a good chance you can extract the screw with little enough damage that you can reuse the existing hole.

   BTW, next time you are using brass screws, try running a steel screw in first to cut the threads and use a thread lube on the brass screw.

   Mike Hennessy
   Pittsburgh, PA

1. 
   rtcat | Dec 28, 2006 09:27pm | #9

   Mike would you elaborate or point me to a prior post on the 'rolled pin in a drill method?' Thanks.

1. 
   MikeHennessy | Dec 28, 2006 10:14pm | #10

   I've never had much luck with the FWW search function and this time was no better (and the posts I recall were in the old site), so I'll elaborate thusly:

   Go to your friendly neighborhood hardware store and acquire a rolled steel pin. These are hardened steel things that are pressed into a hole drilled through parts to hold them together, often to allow the parts to pivot relative to each other. They are a small piece of carbon steel, usually about an inch or so long, that is rolled into a cylindrical shape, leaving a slot down one side. The "springiness" of the steel holds them in the hole. (I wish I could think of an example, but I can't off the top of my head. Old age, I guess!)

   Anyhooz, get one just a bit smaller in *interior* diameter than the screw shank. (Take a busted screw to the HW store with you. Get the largest size pin that the screw shank WON"T fit in to.) Take it home, clamp one end in your trusty vice and, with a screwdriver or some similar instrument of destruction, pry the slot on one end of the pin open just enough to allow it to barely fit over the busted shank. Then file just a bit off one corner of the expanded end so the unfiled corner will form a cutting tooth when rotated counterclockwise. (If you are looking at the pin from the end, with the slot at 12 o'clock, file off the corner to the right, or 1 o'clock, side of the slot.) Chuck the pin in a drill (with the newly expanded & filed business end out), fit it over the busted screw shank and slowly drill in reverse so the pin spins counterclockwise, applying enough pressure so the pin drills into the wood around the busted shank. If you have trouble keeping it centered at first, clamp a guide block with a hole drilled through it to the workpiece to hold the pin centered over the screw hole. If you've done everything correctly, the modified pin will drill around the shank a bit and then, miraculously, tightly grab the shank and unscrew the busted screw, extracting it quite neatly. (Place the extracted screw under yer pillow. The busted screw fairy will bring you a brand new Liegh-Nielson jointer plane, which you will promptly give to me in gratitude for this invaluable bit of advice.) You will likely be able to re-use the hole since you won't have to go very deep to get the screw out, leaving plenty of depth for the unbusted replacement screw to bite and, with luck, the new screw head will cover the part that has been cut by the extractor. If you let your family and friends watch this bit of "magic", they will be much impressed with the depth of your wisdom, knowledge and skill, and you will be the subject of awe and fascination for years to come. You will be the stuff of legend and your story will be handed down from generation to generation.

   Whew! It's easier to do than to describe.

   Oh yeah, and next time, prepare any hole you intend to screw a brass screw into by first sinking a steel screw to cut the threads. We have enough legends already.

   ;-)

   Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA

6. 
   Rich14 | Dec 26, 2006 11:07pm | #8

   Get the screw extractors. They work beautifully. Chuck them up in a reversable electric drill. They drill around and grab the headless screw all in one motion.

   You'll put them away in a drawer and forget about them for years, until this happens again (it will).

   Rich