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Old 01-03-2019, 12:00 AM   #8
Licensed to kill
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Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Alberta
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Default Re: broken screws in oak, drill or give up?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stew Masche View Post
This happened to me on a cabinet knob once. A friend of mine, who does woodworking, had a small tool similar to a miniature hole saw, and he said they were made for this very purpose. It cut a small core out of the wood, with the broken screw at the center, and extracted the whole piece. He then had a correct size dowel that he glued into the hole.
After the glue dried, he drilled a pilot hole for the new screw, and the knob covered the plugged area. I don't know what they are called, but it worked like a charm. If there is a store that sells wood working supplies near you, possibly they could help.
Crosscuts idea is along the same line, and may be faster than looking for this odd tool.
This is IMO the correct way to cure a broken screw in wood. However, I would like to add, it's best to make your own dowel for two reasons. 1 - you want a dowel of good quality (oak) and not all hardware store doweling is good wood and 2- store bough dowel is cut lengthways so you will be screwing the new screw into end grain which will not hold like screwing into cross grain. Get a set of plug cutters, use one to cut out the offending screw and the next size smaller to cut out a plug from a piece of oak cut against the grain. Also, from years of building flintlock rifles mostly with HARD maple, one learns to oil the screws before screwing them in to prevent them breaking in the first place. Oiling does NOT negate the need for a pilot hole. Before anyone comes on and speculates that oiling the screw will soak in and weaken the wood in some way or cause it to deteriorate, no it won't. Just a drop of oil on the threads before you run it in is all you need. I use bear grease. Bees wax would also work well.
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