Carpentry: the toothpick trick

Self-tutoring about carpentry: the tutor mentions a time-honoured trick he hadn’t remembered.

A couple of days back I was examining the door of an outbuilding. The outbuilding, and the door, are both in pretty good shape, but old.

One problem the door was having, as I came to learn, was that its hinge plates were pulling from the wall. I tried to tighten them, but some of the holes were stripped. I took a coffee break and put on some YouTube.

I arrived at “Fix ANY Door Problems With These 7 Magic Tricks”, YouTube channel The Funny Carpenter. What I learned watching said video guided me through the stripped screw-hole problem, plus more.

I think I’ve known of the toothpick trick – pushing toothpicks into a stripped hole to give the screw something to grip. However, the Funny Carpenter goes an extra step, incorporating wood glue.

I found that tapping the toothpicks lightly in place with a hammer can help, as well.

The toothpick trick enabled me to re-hang the door, but I’m considering other fixes he mentions in the video as well, since the door’s position needs to be adjusted slightly.

What a great video:)