When working with wood, you often have to deal with minor difficulties, such as unscrewing screws with a damaged head, screwing them into larger holes than necessary, and other troubles. Most of them can be solved easily, you just need to know some tricks. Let's look at 5 carpentry life hacks that may come in handy most often.
1. How to tighten self-tapping screws from the ends of parts so that they do not split
If you tighten the screw very close to the edge of the part, it will split along the fibers. This will not happen if you bite off or break off the tip of the screw.
Blunt fasteners are a little more difficult to screw in, but they don't split the wood.
2. How to screw a self-tapping screw into a broken hole
If you need to screw a self-tapping screw into a hole with a large diameter, then insert one or more matches into it.
Then break them off flush. Now tighten the self-tapping screw. In terms of reliability of fastening, this self-tapping screw will not be inferior to the one that was initially screwed into a small hole without inserts.
3. How to draw a circle with a square
If you need to mark a circle on a workpiece, but you do not have a compass or a round object to trace it, then you can use a square. To do this, 2 nails are driven into the part. The distance between them should be equal to the diameter of the required circle.
Now we place the square so that one of the nails is in the corner. Immediately place the point of a pencil or marker next to it. After this, we turn the square without tearing it off so that the angle reaches the second nail. As a result, we get a perfect half of a circle. We rearrange the tool and draw the same one on the other side.
4. How to mark drilling points when installing dowels
When connecting two finished planed parts, it may be necessary to mark places for drilling for dowels. If they do not coincide, then a step will form between the workpieces, or they will be displaced relative to each other in the longitudinal direction.
Simply apply and adhere small nails to one of the pieces with masking tape. Their caps should be at the drilling points. Then the second part is placed on top, leveled and pressed firmly.
As a result, marks will remain. By drilling through them, we will get a complete match of the holes for installing the dowels.
5. How to unscrew a self-tapping screw with a damaged head
If the slots on the screw head are torn off, then a screwdriver or screwdriver bit will not be able to unscrew it. In this case, electrical tape will help. You need to glue a piece of it onto the head, and use the tool as a gasket.
You need to push hard and unscrew the screw. The duct tape will prevent it from spinning, so it will work.
