How to Remove a Stripped Screw: Six Methods That Actually Work

A stripped screw is one where the driver no longer bites, so the bit just spins in the head and chews the recess out further every time you try. The fix is to restore grip, cut a fresh grip point, or grab the screw from the outside instead. Below are six approaches ordered from least to most destructive, so you can stop as soon as one works.

Why screws strip

Almost every stripped head comes down to one of four things. The bit was the wrong size, usually a PZ2 in a PH2 head or vice versa, which looks close enough but only touches at the edges. The bit was worn, with rounded corners that cannot hold a square edge. There was not enough downward force, so the bit climbed out under load. Or the screw was simply seized in place by rust, paint, or wood swelling around the threads, and something had to give.

First, clear the recess and change your grip

Before anything else, pick the muck out of the head with a small screwdriver, an awl, or a blast of compressed air. Old paint, filler dust, and packed grime stop a bit seating fully, and a bit sitting proud of the recess strips heads all by itself.

Then change how you are driving it. Use a manual screwdriver rather than a drill, push hard along the axis of the screw, and turn slowly. Roughly 70 percent of your effort should be pushing in and 30 percent turning. If your screwdriver has a hex bolster on the shaft, put a spanner on it so you can push with one hand and turn with the other.

Method 1: rubber band or steel wool

Lay a wide elastic band, a scrap of thin rubber glove, or a small pad of fine steel wool flat over the screw head. Press the bit into it firmly so the material deforms into the damaged recess, then turn slowly. The rubber fills the gaps the bit can no longer reach and adds a surprising amount of friction.

It works best on shallow damage, and it fails immediately with a drill, because the speed just shreds the band. Slow and heavy is the whole point.

Method 2: change the bit, not the technique

Try a fresh bit one size up. A PH3 in a chewed PH2 head often finds fresh metal deeper in the recess. A flat blade driver ground to fit can also catch the remains of a cross head where a Phillips bit no longer will.

Impact drivers help too. The hammering action drives the bit into the head as it turns, which is exactly the force a stripped screw is missing. Use short, sharp bursts on the lowest setting rather than holding the trigger down.

Method 3: cut a new slot

If the head is accessible and you can live with the cosmetics, cut a fresh straight slot across it with a rotary tool and a thin cutting disc, or with a junior hacksaw blade for screws standing proud. Go a couple of millimetres deep so a flat blade driver has something solid to sit in.

Wear eye protection, because cut off discs shatter, and keep the disc clear of whatever the screw is holding.

Method 4: grab the head from outside

Any screw with a head standing even two millimetres above the surface can be gripped rather than driven. Locking pliers clamped hard on the head, adjusted so they take real effort to close, will turn most screws that a driver has given up on. Rotate the whole plier body slowly rather than jerking it.

If the head is flush, a small pin punch tapped anticlockwise against its outer edge can break the initial seal. Once it moves a fraction, a normal driver often takes over.

Method 5: screw extractor bits

Extractors are the proper tool for this. Most sets are double ended, with a burnishing drill on one end and a reverse tapered spiral on the other:

1. Punch a small centre mark in the middle of the screw head so the drill does not wander.
2. Drill a pilot hole into the head with the burnishing end, about 5mm deep, running the drill in reverse or at low forward speed.
3. Flip the bit, set the drill to reverse, and press the extractor end into the hole.
4. Run it slowly with firm pressure. The left hand thread digs in as it turns and backs the screw out.

Cheap extractors snap, and a snapped extractor is hardened steel that no ordinary drill bit will cut through. If you only buy one decent thing on this page, buy a good extractor set.

Method 6: drill the head off

Last resort, and only when the screw holds two parts you can separate. Drill straight down through the head with a bit matched to the head diameter until it shears off. The top component lifts away, leaving a stub of shank you can grip with pliers and wind out.

Stopping it happening again

Pilot holes are the single biggest fix. Drilling a pilot roughly the diameter of the screw core, and a clearance hole through the top piece, removes most of the resistance that strips heads. Match the bit type exactly, replace bits when the corners look shiny rather than sharp, and put a smear of wax or soap on screw threads going into hardwood. For anything you might undo later, choose Torx or square drive fixings, which spread load across flat faces and are far harder to round out than Phillips.