How to Get Out a Stripped Screw

How to Get Out a Stripped Screw: 11 Fixes, From Easiest to Last Resort

Here is the fastest way to get out a stripped screw: lay a wide rubber band flat over the screw head, press your screwdriver into it hard, and turn slowly. The rubber fills the chewed-up grooves and gives the driver something to bite. Half of all stripped screws surrender to this trick in under a minute.

The other half need more, and that is what this guide is for.

Below are 11 methods arranged as an escalation ladder, from tricks that use whatever is in your junk drawer to the nuclear options that always work but cost you the screw. Start at the top and stop the moment one works. Jumping straight to the aggressive fixes destroys screws that a rubber band would have saved.

Along the way you will find the pro method that removes the screw while you are still drilling into it, the one type of screw that shrugs off the classic hammer trick, and near the bottom, the reason your screws keep stripping in the first place. Spoiler: it is usually not the screw.

Cheat sheet at the very end. Grab your driver and start at rung one.

Fix 1: The Rubber Band (Try This First)

The trick from the intro, with the details that make it work.

Why it works: rubber has far more friction than metal, and pressed into the head it molds into the stripped crevices, giving your driver grip where the metal offers none.

How to do it:

1. Find the widest, thickest rubber band you have. The flat kind that comes on produce is perfect. It should cover the whole screw head.
2. Lay it flat over the head.
3. Press a manual screwdriver into it firmly, letting the rubber squash into the damaged slots. A manual driver gives better control than a drill here.
4. Turn counterclockwise, slowly, with steady downward pressure. Speed tears the band.
5. Not biting? Try a thicker band, a different size driver, or a light tap on the driver to seat it deeper.

The limit: this works on partially stripped heads. If the slots are completely gone, the rubber has nothing to press into, and you move down the ladder.

No rubber band handy? The next two fixes create grip a different way.

Fix 2: Steel Wool or Friction Gel

Same idea as the rubber band, different filler.

Steel wool: tear off a small piece, press it into the stripped head, then drive your screwdriver into it and turn. The fine steel fibers pack into the gaps and grab.

Friction gel: products like ScrewGrab and DAP Liquid Grip are made for exactly this. They are gels loaded with abrasive crystal particles that dramatically boost grip between driver and screw.

Using the gel:

1. Clean the screw head with a toothpick or brush so the gel contacts bare metal.
2. Apply 1 to 3 drops. More is not better, since excess just clogs the slots.
3. Drive immediately. The gel is not meant to dry. Press in firmly and turn counterclockwise, slowly.

Like the rubber band, these need some slot left to work with. When the head is chewed too badly for any filler, you change the shape of the problem instead.

Fix 3: Hammer In a Bigger Torx Bit (The Locksmith Trick)

This one saves screws the fillers cannot, and most guides never mention it.

A Torx bit is the star-shaped one. Pick a size slightly too big for the stripped recess, set it on the head, and tap it in with a hammer. The hard steel star cuts its own fresh grip into the softer, rounded-out metal.

How to do it:

1. Choose a Torx bit a size larger than the mangled recess.
2. Seat it on the head and tap it in firmly with a hammer until it is wedged tight.
3. Turn slowly counterclockwise with a manual driver or a drill on low speed, pressing hard the whole way.

Why it works: you are no longer trying to grip the stripped shape. You are carving a new one. This is a favorite of locksmiths and mechanics for a reason.

If the head sticks up above the surface at all, though, there is an even more direct route.

Fix 4: Pliers or Locking Pliers (Skip the Head Entirely)

Why fight a ruined recess when you can grab the head itself?

How to do it:

1. This only works if the head is raised enough to grip. If it is close, carefully clear a little surrounding material to expose it.
2. Use locking pliers (vise grips) for anything but the smallest screws. Clamp them on and tighten the knob until the jaws lock, so all your effort goes into turning instead of squeezing.
3. Grip the head horizontally, across its sides, for maximum turning force.
4. Turn counterclockwise with steady pressure, wiggling gently if it resists.

The cautions: soft screws like brass can deform under the jaws, and slipping pliers can gouge the surrounding surface or your knuckles. Firm, controlled force beats violent cranking.

For a screw sitting flush or recessed, pliers cannot reach. Time for the oldest trick in the toolbox.

Fix 5: Hammer and Flathead (The Classic)

This technique has been rescuing screws for a century, and it doubles as the gateway to the cutting methods below.

The idea: use a hammer to drive the hardened tip of a flathead screwdriver into the screw head, forging a fresh notch where the old slots used to be.

How to do it:

1. Pick a flathead that spans most of the head, and a regular hammer.
2. Hold the driver perpendicular to the screw, firmly.
3. Tap the handle a few times until the tip bites a visible groove.
4. Keep downward pressure and turn slowly counterclockwise.
5. Alternate tapping and turning until it lets go. Once the head rises, finish with pliers.

The one screw this fails on: hardened steel. If the screw is dark or blue-tinted, it is as hard as your screwdriver tip and will not take a notch. Brass, aluminum, copper, zinc, and ordinary steel screws all yield.

When tapping cannot cut a groove, a spinning blade can.

Fix 6: Cut a Notch (For Any Screw, Even Hardened)

If you own a Dremel, angle grinder, or oscillating multi-tool, you can cut a brand-new slot and turn any stripped screw into a flathead.

How to do it:

1. Clamp the workpiece down first. A spinning cutting wheel and a loose object is a bad combination.
2. Fit a thin cutting disc: a 1-inch wheel for a Dremel, a 4 to 5 inch wheel for a grinder. Thickness around 1/32 to 1/16 inch matches a flathead tip best.
3. Choose a disc in aluminum oxide or zirconia alumina. Both are far harder than any screw, including hardened steel.
4. Glasses and gloves on, flammables cleared. This throws sparks.
5. Grind one straight, shallow notch across the head, about 1 to 2 millimeters deep. Deeper risks snapping the head off.
6. Seat a flathead in your new slot, press hard, and turn counterclockwise.

This is the method that saves screws the hammer trick cannot touch. Now for the pro move that most homeowners have never heard of.

Fix 7: The Left-Handed Drill Bit (The Method That Wins While It Works)

This is the tradesperson’s secret, and it is a small piece of genius.

A left-handed drill bit cuts in reverse. So you chuck it into your drill, set the drill to reverse, and drill into the center of the stripped screw. The bit bores in, but every bit of that rotation is also twisting the screw counterclockwise, which is the loosening direction.

The result: very often, somewhere in the middle of drilling, the whole screw simply spins up and out on the bit. The removal happens while you are still drilling.

How to do it:

1. Buy a small set of left-handed bits. They are inexpensive and last for years.
2. Pick a bit about half the diameter of the screw head.
3. Set your drill to reverse. This is the whole trick, and forgetting it makes things worse.
4. Drill slowly into the center of the head with firm pressure.
5. The moment the screw grabs the bit and starts backing out, ease off and let it ride up.

And if it does not spin out? No loss at all. You have just drilled the perfect pilot hole for the next method, which is the most reliable fix on this page.

Fix 8: The Screw Extractor (The Closer)

When people say “there is a tool for that,” this is the tool. Extractors remove screws with completely destroyed heads, and a kit costs less than lunch.

How it works: an extractor is a double-ended bit. One end drills a clean pilot hole into the ruined head. The other end is tapered and reverse-threaded in hardened steel. Driven in reverse, it screws itself into the pilot hole, bites deeper the more it turns, and hauls the screw out with it.

How to do it:

1. Match the extractor size to the screw. The kit’s chart tells you which.
2. Clamp the workpiece so nothing moves.
3. With the drill end, bore a pilot hole 1/8 to 1/4 inch into the head, dead center. Center matters more than depth, and too deep can snap the head off.
4. Flip the bit to the extractor end, set the drill to reverse, and turn slowly with steady pressure.
5. The threads bite, then the screw backs out. Done.

The two ways it goes wrong: drilling off-center, and drilling too deep. Slow and centered beats fast every time.

Extractors handle nearly everything. For the rare screw that still will not move, the last three fixes stop being gentle.

Fix 9: Epoxy a Nut to the Head

The surprising one. You glue yourself a brand-new grip.

How to do it:

1. Clean the screw head of dust and oil, since epoxy needs bare metal to bond.
2. Use a metal-bonding epoxy like J-B Weld, which cures to a cement-hard grip.
3. Either set a nut slightly larger than the head onto the epoxy, or embed the tip of an old screwdriver straight into it.
4. Wait the full cure time on the package. Impatience is how this method fails.
5. Turn the nut with a wrench, slowly and smoothly.

The honest limit: epoxy holds for small and medium screws. A big screw torqued hard will snap the bond before it moves. For those, keep reading.

Fix 10: Drill the Head Off (The Point of No Return)

From here on, the screw does not survive. But the project does.

The logic: the head is what clamps everything down. Remove the head and the clamping force vanishes, the joined pieces come apart, and the leftover shaft stands exposed where pliers can finally reach it.

How to do it:

1. Choose a standard bit larger than the screw’s shaft but smaller than its head.
2. Clamp the work. Center the bit on the head.
3. Drill slowly with even pressure until the head pops free.
4. Lift the top piece off, grip the exposed shaft with locking pliers, and twist it out counterclockwise, wiggling as needed.
5. Sweep up the metal shavings before they scratch something or find a bare foot.

This rescues the project at the cost of the screw, and it works on nearly anything. Nearly. There is one final boss.

Fix 11: Weld a Nut On (The Nuclear Option)

For a rusted, welded-by-time, completely destroyed screw in metal, this is what the pros do.

How to do it:

1. Set a nut matching the head size, or slightly larger, centered on the screw.
2. Weld through the nut’s hole, fusing nut and screw into one piece.
3. Shield everything nearby first. This scorches wood and melts plastic, so it is really a metal-on-metal move.
4. Let it cool, then turn the nut with a wrench.

The hidden bonus: the welding heat expands and breaks the rust bond in the threads, so screws that were chemically fused often turn easily once cool.

Welder owners only, full safety gear, no exceptions. If you have reached fix 11 without a welder, that is the moment to hand the job to someone with one.

Which Fix for How Bad the Damage Is

The whole ladder at a glance.

Situation	Start with
Slots worn but visible	Rubber band, steel wool, or friction gel
Recess rounded out	Hammer in a bigger Torx bit
Head raised above the surface	Locking pliers
Head flush, soft screw	Hammer and flathead notch
Head flush, hardened screw	Cut a notch with a Dremel
Completely destroyed head	Left-handed bit, then extractor
Small screw, no drill handy	Epoxy a nut
Nothing else worked	Drill the head off, or weld a nut

One question is left, and it is the one that saves you from ever needing this page again.

Why Your Screws Keep Stripping (And How to Stop)

A stripped screw is almost never the screw’s fault. It is technique, and three habits fix nearly all of it.

Match the bit to the screw, exactly. A #1 Phillips in a #2 screw wobbles, and wobble strips heads. Bit sizes exist for a reason. When in doubt, use the biggest bit that seats fully.

Push harder than you turn. The number one cause of stripping is cam-out, the bit riding up and out of the recess as it spins. Heavy downward pressure keeps the bit seated so all the force goes into turning. Roughly two-thirds push, one-third turn.

Slow the drill down and drill pilot holes. High speed plus hard wood or metal equals a skipping, grinding bit. Run the drill slow with the clutch set light, and give big screws a pilot hole so they are not fighting the material the whole way in.

And retire your worn bits. A rounded, chewed bit strips fresh screws instantly. Bits are cheap. The hour you just spent on this page was not.

The Cheat Sheet (Save This)

Screenshot this before your next project fights back.

First minute: wide rubber band over the head, press hard, turn slow. Or steel wool, or friction gel.

Next: hammer a slightly-too-big Torx bit into the recess and turn. Raised head? Locking pliers, gripped horizontally.

Flush head: hammer a notch with a flathead (soft screws), or Dremel-cut a new slot (any screw).

Destroyed head: left-handed drill bit in reverse, then a screw extractor. Pilot hole 1/8 to 1/4 inch, dead center, slow.

Last resorts: epoxy or weld a nut on, or drill the head off and pliers-twist the shaft.

Never again: matched bit, push harder than you turn, slow speed, pilot holes, fresh bits.

The Bottom Line

A stripped screw feels like a wall, but it is really just a ladder. Start with the rubber band, escalate only as far as the screw forces you, and even the ugliest, rustiest, most rounded-out screw comes out in the end.

Then match your bits, lean into the drill, and make this the last time you ever need to look any of it up.