Leg screw hole repairs

[Thomas D. Seay, III]

>Ladies and Gentlemen,
>	Recently I've done more than my share of leg screw hole
>repairs.  I have been drilling out the old very badly damaged screw
>holes and replacing the material with dowel stock.  Is there a better
>method?  I prefer putting in new material for the screw to "bite" but
>I seem to  have some difficulty in accuratley locating the drill bit
>as I begin.  The bit seems to want to wander quite a bit and make the
>new hole less than an optimum glueing surface for the dowel stock.
>Is there a specific kind of bit that you would use for this?  Is
>there a better way to do the repair?  It always seems to be on the
>less expensive grands.  Thanks s always for your helpful insights.
>				Greg Newell

Hi Greg,

You might consider the use of threaded inserts. A threaded insert, for
those of you who might not know, is a fastener with knife threads on the
outside and machine threads on the inside. These are the same fasteners
used in the manufacture of knock-down furniture and they are available in
various sizes.

To install one, you simply drill an appropriate sized hole (determined by
the size of the insert) and screw the insert into the hole. You are then
ready to use a bolt to fasten the parts together.

Also remember, dowels are not plugs. You should always use a hardwood plug
for best results.

Good luck.

Tom Seay
mailto:t.seay@mail.utexas.edu