A screw that turns and never tightens has usually crushed the wood fibers it needs to grip. The right repair depends on the job. A light cabinet catch can often be fixed with glued hardwood slivers. A hinge or bracket usually deserves a hardwood dowel. If the fastener comes out again and again, a threaded insert may be the better answer.
Before you start, remove the hardware and look closely at the surrounding wood. Stop if the wood is split, rotten, badly cracked, or part of a safety-critical assembly. A repaired screw hole cannot make damaged structure sound again.
Pick the repair that fits the job
Use glued hardwood slivers when the hole is only a little loose and the screw carries a light load. This is a good fix for small catches, knobs, and light trim.
Use a glued hardwood dowel or plug when the hole is enlarged, splintered, or supporting hardware such as a hinge, handle, or bracket. It replaces the damaged area with fresh wood instead of asking the old fibers to hold one more time.
Use a threaded insert when the connection will be taken apart regularly and you can use a matching machine screw. Inserts are useful on removable furniture parts, but they are not a drop-in answer for an existing wood screw.
Do not default to a bigger screw. It can split thin stock, interfere with the hardware, or leave too little sound wood around the hole. Repair the hole first, then use a pilot hole that matches the screw and the wood.
Fix a lightly stripped hole with hardwood slivers
For a small, low-stress repair, use thin slivers from hardwood scrap or plain wood toothpicks. Avoid soft, crumbly material and avoid relying on wood filler alone. Filler can make a surface look tidy, but it does not give screw threads much to bite into.
- Clean loose fibers and dust from the hole.
- Brush a small amount of wood glue onto several hardwood slivers and into the hole.
- Press the slivers in firmly. Leave them slightly proud of the surface, then trim them flush after the glue has cured according to its label.
- Mark the center of the repair with an awl or a sharp point.
- Drill a fresh pilot hole and drive the screw by hand for the first few turns.
This method works because the screw cuts new threads into solid wood. It is quick, and it keeps a minor repair small. Skip it when the hardware carries repeated force or the hole has become oval or badly torn out.
Rebuild a damaged hole with a hardwood dowel
A dowel repair takes longer, but it is the dependable choice when a screw supports a hinge, bracket, or other hardware that gets tugged and moved. A dowel is also the better move when a sliver repair has already failed.
Choose a hardwood dowel or make a plug from matching scrap. The repair works best when you drill away the damaged fibers cleanly instead of trying to pack glue into a ragged hole.
- Choose a drill bit that makes a clean, round hole large enough to remove the damaged wood while leaving sound material around it.
- Drill straight and only as deep as the workpiece safely allows. Keep clear of finished faces and nearby joints.
- Cut a dowel to fit the depth, coat the sides with wood glue, and press it into place. Do not pound so hard that you split the workpiece.
- Trim the dowel flush after the glue has cured as directed on the label.
- Locate the center, drill a pilot hole, reinstall the hardware, and tighten the screw until it seats. Stop before the screw begins to spin.
For a visible face, a plug cut from similar wood is often easier to blend than a store-bought dowel. Grain and color still may not disappear, especially after finish is applied, so test any stain or touch-up on scrap first.
Use a threaded insert for parts that come apart often
Wood screws are meant to cut their own threads in wood. They are not ideal for a joint you remove and reassemble often, such as a detachable table leg or a removable fixture. A threaded insert gives that part a metal machine thread instead.
Start with the insert and matching machine screw, then follow the insert maker's drilling and installation instructions. The outer threads must match the wood and the hole size, while the inner thread must match the machine screw. Those are separate measurements.
If the existing hole is loose enough that the insert will not hold, rebuild it with a glued hardwood dowel first. Then drill the new hole for the insert. This adds work, but it gives the insert solid wood to grip.
Threaded inserts are usually the wrong repair for a standard door hinge or any hardware that needs the original wood screw and countersunk head. In that situation, a dowel repair lets you keep the original style of fastener.
Drill the new pilot hole carefully
The pilot hole is where a good repair is won or lost. A bit that is too small can split the repair or make the screw bind. A bit that is too large leaves the screw with little to grip.
Match the pilot-hole diameter to the screw's solid center section rather than its outer threads, then make a test hole in scrap from the same material. The screw should turn in with steady resistance. If it spins freely, the hole is too large. If it takes excessive force, step up slightly and test again.
Need a refresher before choosing the replacement fastener? Read Colwood Craft's guide to choosing wood screws. If the screw is hard to start or the hole needs to be drilled by hand, the hand-drill guide can help you choose a more controlled approach.
When to replace the part instead
Repair the hole only when the wood around it is still sound. Replace the piece or get a qualified repair when you find a crack running through a joint, water damage, rot, a loose exterior door frame, or hardware that supports a person or a heavy moving load. A stripped screw can be the symptom, not the whole problem.
For ordinary furniture and shop projects, start with the smallest repair that matches the load. Use slivers for a minor hole, move to a hardwood dowel when the connection matters, and choose an insert when repeated assembly calls for machine threads. That approach gives the screw fresh material to grip without turning a small repair into a bigger one.