If the screw head is still sticking out of the material, you will be able to use a handsaw. Once you cut the notch, you can remove the screw easily with a slotted screwdriver.Īs for the tool you should use to cut the slot, it will depend both on the size of the screw as well as how far into the material you managed to screw it in before stripping it. As such, make sure to have enough rubber bands and patience if you decide to try this method.Īnother classic way of removing a stripped screw is by cutting a slot into the screw’s head to create a new screw drive. While this idea works great in theory, in practice, you might go through a few rubber bands before you are finally able to remove the stripped screw. The rubber band is meant to create friction and, essentially, be the replacement of the damaged screw drive. You place a rubber band over the screw’s head and use a screwdriver on top of that. Using a rubber band is a traditional method of removing screws that existed long before screw extraction pliers and screw extractors – which I will talk about further down – were invented. They have “sharper” jaws than normal pliers that are designed to get the maximum amount of grip even with the tiniest gripping space (like a small part of the screw head that is sticking out). That’s where screw extraction pliers like the Vampliers come in handy. If the screw head is almost flush with the surface of the wood or other material you are screwing it into, though, then it’s difficult to get a grip on it using regular or locking pliers. While all the other techniques on this list work regardless of whether the screw is completely in the wood or not, this one only works if the screw head is still on the surface of the wood.Īs mentioned above, using pliers is the easiest way to remove stripped screws if they are not screwed in completely. With some effort, you should still be able to do so using one of the techniques mentioned below. If the head is flush with or even lower than the wood’s surface level, though, you will have a harder time removing the screw. If your screw gets damaged while its head is still sticking out a fair amount, then you can fairly easily remove it with regular pliers or locking pliers (Vise-Grip).
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And, I will also give you some material-specific tips on how to remove such screws from wood, metal, and plastic. Depending on the material you are using and how far you were able to tighten the screw before stripping it, that might be easier said than done.īelow, I will introduce you to five techniques that will help you with the damaged screw extraction. When that happens, you will have to remove the stripped screw and replace it with a new one. However, chances are that even if you follow all of them, you will still damage a screw every now and then.
Previously, I wrote about 4 tips that can help you avoid stripping screws. Handyman's World is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to.