The screw is spinning. The screwdriver is bouncing out of the head, the threads on the screw aren’t moving, and you’re already two minutes into the project. This is one of those problems where the wrong move — grinding the screwdriver in harder — makes it permanently worse. The right move is an escalation ladder: try the cheapest, least destructive trick first, and only move to drills and extractors if it earns it. On the rental units I’ve worked on, probably 70% of stripped screws give up at step 2.
This is for any stripped screw you’d encounter in normal residential DIY — Phillips heads in wood or drywall, hex heads in flat-pack furniture, and the occasional rusted-in deck screw. It’s not for industrial fasteners, security screws, or anything load-bearing structural.
What you’ll need
Tools (in order of escalation):
- A thick rubber band — the wide kind that comes wrapped around produce
- Locking pliers (Vise-Grip 7R or similar, around $20)
- Cordless drill — any platform you already own
- Screw extractor set ($15–$30 for a decent IRWIN HANSON or Grabit kit)
- Optional: Dremel rotary tool with a cutting wheel
- Optional: penetrating oil (PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench) if the screw is rusted
Materials:
- Safety glasses — non-negotiable once drills and grinders are involved
- Replacement screws of the same size, because you’ll need one
Prerequisites:
- Comfortable using a cordless drill in reverse
- Patience — every step on this list is faster than the next one, but only if you do it carefully
Before you start
If the stripped screw is on an electrical fixture (outlet plate, light fixture, switch), turn off the circuit at the breaker and verify with a non-contact voltage tester before you touch anything. If you’ll be using a Dremel or drill on a metal screw, wear eye protection — small metal shards fly. If the screw is rusted as well as stripped, hit it with penetrating oil and walk away for 10 minutes; chemistry will do work you can’t.
Step 1: Figure out what kind of stripped you’re dealing with
Stripped means different things. Diagnose before you act:
- Cammed-out Phillips: The cross-shaped slots are rounded but the head is still flush with the surface. Most common. Easy to fix.
- Rounded hex: The hex socket is now closer to a circle. Common on flat-pack furniture. Slightly harder.
- Sheared head sitting proud: The head broke off but is sticking above the work surface. Locking pliers job.
- Sheared head flush or below the surface: The screw is buried with no purchase. Hardest case — extractor or drill-out territory.
The method you reach for depends on which of these you have. Don’t skip this step.
Step 2: The rubber band trick
This is the highest hit-rate fix for a cammed-out Phillips head. Take a thick rubber band — the wide one wrapped around the broccoli, not the skinny office-supply kind — lay it flat across the screw head, and press your screwdriver bit into it. The rubber fills the gaps where the bit has lost purchase and dramatically increases friction.
The key is downward pressure. Push the screwdriver into the screw with about 30–40 lb of force — more than feels reasonable — while turning slowly. If it’s going to work, you’ll feel the screw start to back out within the first quarter turn. If three turns in nothing has moved, escalate.
This costs nothing and damages nothing. It’s the right first move every time.
Step 3: Locking pliers if the head sits proud
If the screw head is sitting above the work surface by even an eighth of an inch, locking pliers (Vise-Grips) will grip the outside of the head and turn the whole screw out. Clamp them tight — there’s a small adjustment screw on the back you turn until the jaws bite hard before you snap the lever — and rotate counterclockwise.
This won’t help if the head is flush with the surface or recessed into a countersink. It also tends to chew up the surrounding wood or metal a bit. On a piece you care about visually, skip to the next step.
Step 4: Cut a new slot with a Dremel
If the head is flush but the original drive recess is destroyed, a rotary tool with a thin cutting wheel can carve a fresh straight slot across the screw head — turning your stripped Phillips into a fresh flathead. Use the smallest cutting disc your Dremel takes, hold the tool steady, and cut a single shallow slot maybe 1mm deep across the diameter of the screw head.
Then a flathead screwdriver — and the same downward pressure from step 2 — usually backs it out.
Two cautions. Wear eye protection, because the cutting wheel throws sparks and metal fragments. And go slow — a Dremel at full speed will eat through the screw head and into whatever’s underneath in a couple of seconds. I’ve cut into a kitchen cabinet face this way and had to fill it, and it was a stupid mistake.
Step 5: Screw extractor with left-handed drill bit
This is the dedicated tool, and a $15 IRWIN HANSON extractor set is one of the best DIY investments you can make. The kit includes left-handed drill bits paired with tapered extractor bits in matching sizes.
The process: chuck the smaller left-handed drill bit into your cordless drill, set the drill to reverse, and drill a pilot hole down into the center of the stripped screw. Surprisingly often the screw will back itself out at this stage — the reverse rotation of the bit grabs the screw and unscrews it before the extractor is even involved. If that doesn’t happen, swap to the matching tapered extractor, run the drill in reverse again, and the extractor’s reverse threads bite into the pilot hole and turn the screw out.
Wood screws come out easier than machine screws. Hardened steel screws (some deck screws, some structural fasteners) can be difficult enough that a basic extractor kit won’t bite — you’ll need a high-end set or a pro tool.
Best Cordless Drill Under $200: 5 Options That Actually Matter covers which drills handle this kind of work without complaint — extractor work needs torque, not just speed.
Step 6: Last resort — drill it out
If the screw is sheared off flush in wood and nothing else has worked, the nuclear option is to drill a hole slightly larger than the screw’s outer diameter around the entire screw. This pulls the screw out inside a plug of surrounding wood. Fill the resulting hole with a wooden dowel and glue, then re-drill a pilot for a new screw.
For sheared-off screws in metal, drilling is also the answer, but you’ll need a center punch to keep the drill bit from wandering, and you should step up drill bit sizes gradually — start small and work up to the screw’s diameter.
This step destroys material around the screw. Use it only when nothing above worked.
Verify it worked
The screw is out and the threads of the receiving hole — in wood or in a tapped metal hole — are intact enough to accept a replacement screw of the same size. Test by hand-threading the replacement. If it spins without biting, the hole is stripped too and you’ll need a slightly larger screw, a wood-glue-and-toothpick repair, or a threaded insert.
Troubleshooting
Problem: Screw is spinning in place but not backing out in wood. The wood around the screw is stripped, not the screw head. Skip ahead to step 6, or use a small pry bar to lift the workpiece up slightly while turning the screw counterclockwise — sometimes that breaks the screw free.
Problem: Extractor bit broke off inside the screw. This is the worst case and it does happen with cheap extractors. Hardened extractor bits don’t drill out — you’ll likely need a pro with a carbide bit or to abandon that mounting hole and use a new one.
Problem: Penetrating oil didn’t help. Try heat. A soldering iron held to the screw head for 30 seconds expands the screw slightly and breaks corrosion bonds. Let it cool for a minute, then try again. Don’t try this on plastic surfaces or near anything flammable.
When to call a professional
Call someone if the stripped screw is structural — securing a railing, holding up a load-bearing element, or anything where a botched removal could cause failure. Call if the screw is on a piece of expensive custom cabinetry where damage from extractors would be costly to repair. Call if you’ve broken an extractor off inside the screw and aren’t comfortable with carbide tooling. The hourly rate of a handyman to fix one stuck screw beats the cost of replacing a $400 cabinet door.
FAQ
Will the rubber band trick work on hex screws?
Sometimes, but less reliably than on Phillips. The geometry is wrong — there’s less cam-out gap for the rubber to fill. If the hex is only lightly rounded, try a Torx bit one size up jammed into the socket. The slightly larger Torx will bite into the corners.
Should I use an impact driver?
For stripping prevention, yes — impact drivers deliver torque in pulses and reduce cam-out. For removing an already-stripped screw, an impact driver can help, but you risk twisting the screw head off entirely if it’s seized. Use the lowest impact setting.
Why do Phillips screws strip so easily?
They were designed to. Phillips heads cam out by design when overtorqued — that’s the original 1930s patent’s purpose, to prevent overdriving in assembly lines. Modern Torx and Robertson (square) drives don’t have this problem, which is why so much modern hardware has moved to them.
Can I prevent stripping next time?
Use a fresh, correctly-sized driver bit; bits wear out and a worn Phillips #2 will strip every screw it touches. Apply heavy downward pressure while turning. And for high-torque jobs, switch to an impact driver and impact-rated bits.
If the screw was rusted as part of the problem, How to Remove Paint from Wood: 3 Methods That Actually Work has some adjacent techniques on penetrating oils that translate. And once your tool collection has grown to handle situations like this, Best Garage Organization Systems: Wall Rails vs. Shelving vs. Pegboard (2026) is the natural next problem — extractors are the kind of thing you can never find when you need them.