Hole Too Large for Screw

[Jim Evatt]

I just repaired all the holes in door hinges by drilling and gluing in dowels and redrilling for screws. This was a cheap door from Lowe's, and I had toothpicked a couple of holes earlier, but they did not last long. I will have no more problems with this door now. I should have done it right to begin with. Actually, to begin with, I should have bought a better quality door!

[Peter Quinn]

I just repaired all the holes in door hinges by drilling and gluing in dowels and redrilling for screws. This was a cheap door from Lowe's, and I had toothpicked a couple of holes earlier, but they did not last long. I will have no more problems with this door now. I should have done it right to begin with. Actually, to begin with, I should have bought a better quality door!

The issue with pluging the old hole is the surrounding wood may be contaminated with grease, oil from the screws, wax, or soap from screw installation. I find drilling back to fresh wood is always best, glue the dowel plugs in, then when you run another screw in the plug expands a bit to act as a clamp. So I don't wait too long between plugs and reinstalling hardware. Screws rarely fail, but given enough time and force the surrounding wood often does. Or in the case of big box doors....the surrounding pulp.

[Jerome Stanek]

Even Tom Silva used tooth picks to do this on ask this old house and he uses Festool so you may have to spend some money

[Pat Houle]

This works great in some situations:
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/pag...80,42240,53317

[glenn bradley]

I have used that in the past and didn't realize you could screw into it. That stuff is sure difficult to sand.

I have the Lee Valley item shown above and it is great if you have enough thickness to use it on. From your shallow requirement my first choice would be to drill a 1/4" flat bottomed hole with a Forstner, glue in a short piece of 1/4" oak dowel, drill and screw. If the holes are not too over-large, whittle a plug of hardwood scrap, use a toothpick, a kabob skewer, etc. and glue in place. Saw off flush, drill and screw.

Durham's is a great solution for many things. It is a poor wood filler due to the reason you state; it is harder than the surrounding material and therefor is difficult to sand flush. It doe not shrink appreciably though so you can putty-knife it flush while soft, then drill and screw into it.

[Chris Padilla]

You need a whole new door, Rich, sorry.

I would go the epoxy route. Tape the back of the hole if possible so the epoxy doesn't run out and smear it in. Be patient. It might take a couple of fills. If you can remove the door and lay it such that gravity works for you, all the better.

Also, pics would help us to better help you.

[John Coloccia]

IMHO, the absolute best fix for something like this is to cram toothpicks in there with wood glue, and then screw everything together WET. The screw will clamp and compress the toothpicks/glue, and when it dries you'll end up with super strong threads formed around the screw. I've tried every other way of doing it. Screwing into end grains stinks. Once the screw shears the fibers, I often end up with a neat little plug that will eventually just pull out. The toothpick/glue thing is just super strong, if you screw it all together when it's still wet.

[Phil Barrett]

The issue with pluging the old hole is the surrounding wood may be contaminated with grease, oil from the screws, wax, or soap from screw installation. I find drilling back to fresh wood is always best, glue the dowel plugs in, then when you run another screw in the plug expands a bit to act as a clamp. So I don't wait too long between plugs and reinstalling hardware. Screws rarely fail, but given enough time and force the surrounding wood often does. Or in the case of big box doors....the surrounding pulp.

I agree with this. Not only that but the wood is often shredded and cracked. I drill a larger hole and glue a hardwood dowel plug. More surface area for glue adhesion. Redrill new pilot. Fix will last longer than the original holes.

An example. I have a set of sliding room dividers in the house I bought 3 years ago. 8 hinges - 6 screws per hinge. Some screws were loose so I tightened them up. They kept coming loose so I took it down and apart. Toothpicks came out of about half the holes. The screws are number 10 so they are pretty big. I drilled out the holes with a 3/8 bit, glued in dowels, redrilled the pilots and reinstalled. Totally solid.

[Lee Schierer]

I keep 3/16" dowel rod in the tool box for this, drill a 3/16" hole so it blows out any of the old screw hole, I run in the leading edge on a pencil sharpener so they start easy, then a dab of glue, knock them in, flush them up and reinstall the hardware using a vix bit as a new installation. For really tiny screws a smaller gauge of dowel might be more appropriate?

I do the same thing only I use a 1/8"dowel slightly tapered with a pencil sharpener and a dad of glue in the hole.

[Brian Henderson]

I have to say, I'd go with redrilling and gluing in a hardwood dowel. The glue is stronger than the wood, you'll have a permanent patch that you can drill just like new. I've had failures with the matchstick and toothpick method, but never just replacing the wood with new.

[lowell holmes]

I put a dowel in my pencil sharpener and then cut the sharpened end off. I glue it in the over sized hole, drill a pilot hole in it and set the screw in it.

[Peter Quinn]

IMHO, the absolute best fix for something like this is to cram toothpicks in there with wood glue, and then screw everything together WET. The screw will clamp and compress the toothpicks/glue, and when it dries you'll end up with super strong threads formed around the screw. I've tried every other way of doing it. Screwing into end grains stinks. Once the screw shears the fibers, I often end up with a neat little plug that will eventually just pull out. The toothpick/glue thing is just super strong, if you screw it all together when it's still wet.

So john, Do you have a source for toothpicks whose grain runs perpendicular to the length? Far as i can tell the tooth pic is a fast, cheap and dirty little dowel screwing into which is screwing into end grain, or like screwing into rope.. I've used bamboo skewers I found in a clients kitchen in a pinch to very good avail, they seem to shred like rope and rap the screw on its way in in a tenacious manor. Not sure what they make tooth pics from, but the dowels I use are maple, and they hold screws like....well...something that holds something really really tight. In fact I've preempted the install it...have it fail....wait for the call back routine on some installs involving soft wood by just gluing in the maple dowels from the beginning. You would have a hard time making me believe a pile of round little pics that are tapered along their length leaving lots of space between them for failed glue bonds is superior to a good dowel plug in a fresh hole. If you glued in a perpendicular grain plug, that would be an end grain to end grain glue up, so less glue strength than a long grain dowel and more likely to pull out.

[John Coloccia]

So john, Do you have a source for toothpicks whose grain runs perpendicular to the length?

Nope. It's unnecessary because the screw completely compresses the wood and the glue into mush, making the choice of grain direction irrelevant.

Far as i can tell the tooth pic is a fast, cheap and dirty little dowel screwing into which is screwing into end grain, or like screwing into rope.. I've used bamboo skewers I found in a clients kitchen in a pinch to very good avail, they seem to shred like rope and rap the screw on its way in in a tenacious manor. Not sure what they make tooth pics from, but the dowels I use are maple, and they hold screws like....well...something that holds something really really tight. In fact I've preempted the install it...have it fail....wait for the call back routine on some installs involving soft wood by just gluing in the maple dowels from the beginning. You would have a hard time making me believe a pile of round little pics that are tapered along their length leaving lots of space between them for failed glue bonds is superior to a good dowel plug in a fresh hole. If you glued in a perpendicular grain plug, that would be an end grain to end grain glue up, so less glue strength than a long grain dowel and more likely to pull out.

I've tried it all, Peter, as stripped screw holes is one of the most common guitar repairs you do, and you really don't want them coming back, or risk cosmetic damage. Someone once recommended to me the toothpicks with glue, I've used it ever since on everything, and my opinion is that it's usually the most permanent fix. Honestly, I'm really not out to make anyone believe anything. There's no reason to make theoretical arguments about what should or shouldn't be better. Toothpicks and glue are cheap, and so are holes. They can just try and see for themselves, but they must do it the way I said...screw it all together WET, or you won't get the right results.

[Charles Li]

Great thread! I've always thought about what I'd do if I were forced to (always found a way to avoid it).

[Jim Finn]

I have always used toothpicks or wood slivers, dry, but I like the idea of adding glue.