How To Fix A Threaded Screw

Got a wobble that won't go away? Maybe it's a stripped screw.

Often times an otherwise solid piece of furniture does not feel sturdy. If you check the leg connections you will usually find that one or more of the screws in the piece have stripped out and left a hole. Don't dispair, this is a relatively easy fix and very satisfying to complete.

"The physical act of gluing something together was really formative for me." Miranda July

Once you ascertain that a stripped screw is the problem, position the piece so that you can easily access it. Usually, that will mean turning the piece on its top.

When you look at the bottom of this table you can clearly see that a repair has been done on the other leg (left photo). Those screws were stripped to the point when the whole leg had to be moved. Luckily as you can see in the photo on the right, the stripped screw holes we need to repair are not that badly damaged. The four holes we are going to fill vary slightly in size, so I will show you three different ways to fix them.

As you can see this piece has been repaired before.

These are the basic supplies you will need: wood glue, matchsticks and an optional tool (which comes with wooden cones), designed specifically for repairing stripped screw holes.

For the first two smaller holes, make sure that they are clean of debris, then simply put a drop or two of glue into the hole. Make sure that all the air is out of the hole, you can use any long thin object to push the glue down into the hole until there is no air at the bottom.