John Hall
Established Member
Can you grip them with mole grips?
Is there any trick to make unscrewing easier from old wood?
- Thread starter tibi
- Start date
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No, as there is a countersunk head that is sunk in the metal hardware. Nothing is protruding over the wood level.
Exactly as Bingy man described ... drill a hole the same size as the outer diameter of the core drill in a piece of scrap to act as a guide to get the hole started and clamp it in the position required. Demonstrated in the video below;
Amclaussen
Established Member
I have used a SMALL butane blowtorch, to slightly heat the screw head, and help to make it come out easier. On very resinous woods that make the screw stick to them tenaciously, heating and quickly cooling the screw with a cooling spray repeaing several times, it will unstick it better. Good Luck.
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Where there’s a will there’s a way 
I have finally cut 14 mm holes with a hole saw from the opposite side halfway deep and banged out the remaining screw with a punch. Now I will buy a countersunk metric bolts with big washers that will cover the holes (as I have a 10 mm thick stainless steel dowel plate and it would be a chore to drill 14 mm hole into it with a cordless hand drill)Where there’s a will there’s a way
ey_tony
Established Member
In my organ builder days, we regularly had to deal with very old, often hand cut rusted in screws or screws that were just generally very difficult to remove from wood through previous poor workmanship. We usually managed to remove them without breaking the heads off or damaging the wood but the trick is not to rush attempting to remove them until everything is in place.
The biggest issue is that very often the 'wrong' screwdriver is used when trying to release a tight screw. Obviously in a restricted area it isn't possible to use one but a long spindle screwdriver, if it fits the slot correctly helps enormously as the weight can usually be applied in a more useful manner as is the torque which builds up in the screwdriver blade as it's turned.
We rarely used short screwdrivers for this very reason as most of the screws we needed to remove had probably been in there for the best part of 60-100 years and even today I still use long spindle drivers in preference to shorter drivers for removing suspected difficult screws to remove.
As the screws we dealt with had slotted heads, if it didn't turn readily with the correct screwdriver blade inserted or looked like it would be tight we first used use a punch and smacked the screw head several times to loosen them before ever going near the head with a screwdriver.
The fit of the screwdriver face/head is absolutely vital so as not to cause damage to the slot which unfortunately all too frequently is caused by not using the correct tool for the job and if there was already previous damage to the slot we used old screwdrivers kept specifically ground for fashioning new slots with the aid of a mallet to allow the screw's removal.
On occasions where the removal of the screw was more important than the finish around the screw, we made tools from pieces of cut-down hacksaw blade mounted in a purpose made handle specifically used to reconstruct the slot in a damaged head.
Much of the timber we used was recycled where possible so it wasn't unusual to be using and working with timber 100-150 years old and the biggest enemy we found was rusted in screws or the horrible nails which if we didn't spot before we started dressing the timber absolutely ruined our carefully sharpened plane blades or saws so we took wood inspection very seriously before working it.
In the event that we couldn't remove the screw by any other means we would eventually have to drill it out but that was the last resort.
Today's Philips head type screws are much easier to remove if the sockets are damaged. I have a set of screw extractors which I bought quite a while ago but I've only used them maybe a handful of times on the internal door hinges of my house as it happens which were left that way by the second fix joiner when the house was built.
There's nothing worse than wanting to remove doors to fit new carpets etc only to find the screw heads damaged by either the original door fitter or subsequent carpet fitters who had to remove the doors to complete their work.
We used to look at removing screws as a one shot opportunity...get it wrong then it's a whole lot of extra work so better to get it right in the first place.
The biggest issue is that very often the 'wrong' screwdriver is used when trying to release a tight screw. Obviously in a restricted area it isn't possible to use one but a long spindle screwdriver, if it fits the slot correctly helps enormously as the weight can usually be applied in a more useful manner as is the torque which builds up in the screwdriver blade as it's turned.
We rarely used short screwdrivers for this very reason as most of the screws we needed to remove had probably been in there for the best part of 60-100 years and even today I still use long spindle drivers in preference to shorter drivers for removing suspected difficult screws to remove.
As the screws we dealt with had slotted heads, if it didn't turn readily with the correct screwdriver blade inserted or looked like it would be tight we first used use a punch and smacked the screw head several times to loosen them before ever going near the head with a screwdriver.
The fit of the screwdriver face/head is absolutely vital so as not to cause damage to the slot which unfortunately all too frequently is caused by not using the correct tool for the job and if there was already previous damage to the slot we used old screwdrivers kept specifically ground for fashioning new slots with the aid of a mallet to allow the screw's removal.
On occasions where the removal of the screw was more important than the finish around the screw, we made tools from pieces of cut-down hacksaw blade mounted in a purpose made handle specifically used to reconstruct the slot in a damaged head.
Much of the timber we used was recycled where possible so it wasn't unusual to be using and working with timber 100-150 years old and the biggest enemy we found was rusted in screws or the horrible nails which if we didn't spot before we started dressing the timber absolutely ruined our carefully sharpened plane blades or saws so we took wood inspection very seriously before working it.
In the event that we couldn't remove the screw by any other means we would eventually have to drill it out but that was the last resort.
Today's Philips head type screws are much easier to remove if the sockets are damaged. I have a set of screw extractors which I bought quite a while ago but I've only used them maybe a handful of times on the internal door hinges of my house as it happens which were left that way by the second fix joiner when the house was built.
There's nothing worse than wanting to remove doors to fit new carpets etc only to find the screw heads damaged by either the original door fitter or subsequent carpet fitters who had to remove the doors to complete their work.
We used to look at removing screws as a one shot opportunity...get it wrong then it's a whole lot of extra work so better to get it right in the first place.
Organ builders often have this problem and heat the screw with a powerful soldering iron before trying to tighten it to get it moving. Mild steel screws can react with oak, so good luck! Richard
WARNING this Faithful one is now has a cheap cast iron head that isn't upto the job. Its not like the original crescent forged ones, suspect they switched to a chinese copy. Only seem to be able to get the crescent ones from the US with £30 post and tax
Great outcome. Stainless should last a lifetime. When I put my bench together in 1975 (15 at school), my father showed me how to coat the mild steel screws using a bar of soap to prevent rust. I moved the bench last year and had to remove these screws from the apron that had sat in a dampish stable for 46 years, not easy but they came out with careful screwing and unscrewing. My Dad is now 90 and rather forgetful, but I'll always remember that tip. Stainless steel has made it redundant. Many old workers used tallow on the steel to preserve it and lubricate the hole. I still do this with cheaper yellow screws.
The Rockler screw extractors are fiendishly expensive, if you can find them in the UK. I’ve tried using a diamond grit tile drill, which sort-of works, but makes plenty of smoke! I also found these
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07T4Y3CMJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1on Amazon, and also on eBay. I’ve no idea how they measure the diameters - they’re nowhere near the nominal values - but they do work, they’re cheap (bit like me), and it’s easy enough to bore the resulting hole out to fit a dowel.
the great waldo
Established Member
Try heating the screws with a big soldering iron (80watts +) That sometimes works to break the bond.
Cheers
Andrew Duh Just noticed someone with an organ posted this, but anyway it usually works. It just needs to be done a few times and spritzing with a freeze spray as well helps.
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Spence1818
New member
You should first try to turn the screw clockwise half a turn before you try to take the screw out, that usually works.
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