That one drawer pull has been falling off for six months. You tighten the screw, it holds for a week, then it strips again and falls off. Rinse, repeat, rage.

The screw is not the problem. The hole is. And the fix costs about ten cents, assuming you have a toothpick.

Why the screw will not stay

When a screw keeps loosening, the wood around the hole has worn away. The screw threads have nothing to bite into. Tightening it just spins the same hole wider. The fix is to give the screw something to grip, which means filling the hole.

The toothpick and glue method

Here is the classic fix:

1. Pull the screw out completely.
2. Dip a couple of toothpicks in wood glue.
3. Push them into the hole, breaking them off flush with the surface.
4. Let the glue dry for a few hours or overnight.
5. Reinsert the screw. It will bite into the toothpicks and hold.

That is it. The toothpicks fill the worn wood, the glue locks them in place, and the screw threads have fresh material to grip. I have fixed a wobbly chair arm this way and it lasted years.

Use wood glue, not super glue

Wood glue dries flexible and bonds with the wood fibers. Super glue dries brittle and can crack the surrounding wood when the screw moves. Yellow carpenter’s glue or any PVA wood glue works. You can find it at any hardware store for a few dollars.

Match the toothpick size to the hole

A single toothpick works for a slightly worn hole. A badly stripped hole needs two or three. If the hole is huge, use a wooden matchstick or a golf tee instead. The goal is to fill the void so the screw has solid material to thread into.

For holes that are completely stripped

If the hole is so worn that even toothpicks rattle around, add a drop of glue on the screw itself before driving it in. The glue coats the threads and bonds the screw to the toothpicks. Let it cure before you hang anything heavy from it.

What about metal holes

This trick is for wood and wood composites. For metal or plastic holes, use a thread insert instead. The toothpick method will not hold in metal, and it can crack plastic. Know your material before you start.

Prevent it from happening again

A few habits cut down on stripped holes: do not overtighten, use the right size screwdriver, and drive screws by hand when they are small. Cordless drills with too much torque are the number one cause of stripped holes I see.

The drawer pull in my kitchen has not moved since I fixed it with two toothpicks and a drop of glue. My wife asked how much the repair cost. I said about a dime.