Best Practice for Repairing Worn Threads in Wood?

[Dockhead]

Sailboat doors live a hard life -- being opened and closed sometimes hundreds of times a day, and being slammed hard in a rough seaway.

I have been trying to tighten up and adjust all my doors and cabinet doors, and a lot of the hinge screws have lost their grip.

I have always, since I can't remember when, repaired this condition by working some epoxy down into the screw-hole. This is surely the right thing to do, but there are a few different ways to do it, which has left me puzzled.

1. Fill the hole completely with epoxy. Let it harden completely. Then drill a hole in it for the screw to grip in.

2. Don't fill the hole completely. Just wipe some in there with a toothpick, enough for the threads to get a grip. Then you don't need to drill the hole.

3. Fill the hole more or less, let the epoxy partially set, then put the screw in, not tightening it all the way. That way the screw presses the epoxy into the wood. Tighten the screw after the epoxy is completely cure.

4. Same as (3), but put the screw in immediately, because the partially set epoxy will no longer flow.


Any tips from you masters?

[travellerw]

When I didn't have Epoxy available, I have filled the holes with toothpicks and then put the screw back in. It held for years in my RV.

[DeepFrz]

Dip a couple of toothpicks in waterproof glue, press into hole, snap off even with facing, insert and tighten screw. Better yet, snap of the toothpicks before dipping in glue and inserting into screw hole.

[Cheechako]

Tooth picks and glue. Iso fast set glue is fine also. Comes in thick... hobby store..

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

Dip a couple of toothpicks in waterproof glue, press into hole, snap off even with facing, insert and tighten screw. Better yet, snap of the toothpicks before dipping in glue and inserting into screw hole.

Go this route, or if it's really screwed up, drill a .25" hole and glue in a piece of dowel, after the glue sets drill a hole in the dowel for the screw.


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[Dockhead]

Jeez, all these years and never dreamed of that toothpick trick. Thanks, guys!!

[hellosailor]

You can even dip the toothpicks in Elmer's or other casein glue, it is strong enough for the job and will allow you to unscrew without waxing the screws. If you want to be really neat, cut the toothpicks to length, instead of just jamming them in and breaking them off.(G)


Remember to use marine grade toothpicks! The best ones are made of aged Sitka spruce.(VBG)

[colemj]

Yep - toothpicks here too. Probably not "proper", but I have yet to have a repeat failure - and have by now completely forgotten which holes have the toothpick fix, so I can't re-fix them "properly" anyhoo.

Mark

[rwidman]

"Best" practice?

Well toothpicks will often work, and I have done this myself, but I think the best practice is to drill out the hole to the next largest available wooden dowel size, coat the end of the dowel and the inside of the hole with epoxy, drive the dowel into place with a light blow from a hammer, wait for it to cure, cut it off flush with the surrounding surface, then drill the proper sized pilot hole and reinsert the screw.


Now if you've decided the toothpick technique is good enough but you don't have any toothpicks handy, just get out your pocket knife and cut a sliver off the edge of a board.

[gulfstar37]

Perment fix you will never have to repeat in next 50 years is to put masking tape over old holes, drill out hole a little bigger (forstner bit is best for this and epoxy hardwood dowel in place flush. Let set up then redrill correct size hole for cabinet screw. This may take 5 minuites longer but you will never have to do again ever. I spent an afternoon doing this on all cabinets about 15 years ago and have never had a failure. Note make sure oversize hole will be covered by hinge fittings.

[The Way]

If you use the dowel trick, aren't you then screwing into end-grain? I thought that was bad!

Thanks,
Jack

[gulfstar37]

The Way
If you use the appropriate dirll size for the screw you should not have a problem with this. Where people get in trouble is either too small a hole or worse yet no pilot hole at all. I'm assumming the screws for the cabinet doors will be less than 1/4 inch most likely #6, 8,10 or maybe #12.

Have a great day.

[boden36]

Matchsticks are also good.
Regards,
Richard,

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by The Way

If you use the dowel trick, aren't you then screwing into end-grain? I thought that was bad!



Thanks,

Jack

Normally it is, it would spilt right away, but the dowel is constrained in the parent plywood so it can't. I'm sure it fractures along the grain, but it doesn't matter


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[rwidman]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Normally it is, it would spilt right away, but the dowel is constrained in the parent plywood so it can't. I'm sure it fractures along the grain, but it doesn't matter


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That's correct.

There's another, more complicated way that hasn't been mentioned - metal screw inserts.



Drill the hole out to fit one of these, screw it in and use a machine screw instead of a wood screw. This is a good way to attach something you will be removing from time to time.