Almost every boatbuilder has had to contend with a broken screw that must be removed. This recently happened to me when my #6 self-drilling Torx screws had set firm while temporarily securing a 6mm panel to a thin Douglas-fir seam batten while the epoxy cured. Fueled by coffee and enthusiasm, I broke seven screw heads off. I should have stopped after the first one and used my soldering iron to heat the screws to loosen the rest, but that moment had passed. The screws were not stainless and their points protruded through the seam batten on the interior of the boat. They had to go. The Unscrew-Um has started work on this screw that has lost its head. Guided by the screw shaft, the Unscrew-Um removes only a minimum of wood to extract the screw.
Photographs by the author
Read this article now for Free!
Ready for a second free article? Create a free account by entering your email address and a password below.
— OR —
Subscribe now for $29.99 a year and have immediate access to all of our content, including hundreds of small-boat profiles, gear reviews and techniques, adventure stories, and more! You can also browse our entire archive of back issues starting from September 2014, as well as post unlimited classified ads. This is an extraordinary value!
Looks like a roll (aka spring) pin with a bit of grinding on the end. I’ve got something similar acquired years ago: a thin steel tube 5/16″ dia. with saw teeth at the ends. Haven’t seen them in catalogs for some time. It wants to skate around unless I’m using a drill press or a board with a guide hole centered over the work. I’ve also used it as a 1/4″ plug cutter. Seems like both of these tools could be fabricated without much trouble.
When all else fails–but sure makes an heck of a hole. Seems to speak to using better quality screws in the first place.
Tom