Removing screws with "distressed" heads

[George Bulliss]

I tried to help, honest.

I merged the three threads with the same title so as to avoid confusion. Unfortunately, once merged I decided to clean out the duplicate messages in the thread. I'm not sure if I hit the wrong thing or if the software just wasn't up for the task, but the thread appears to have been deleted and I have no means of bringing it back.

My apologies to the original poster, Randy, and to all those who took the time to reply to his question.

[old mart]

Thanks for trying, George, three threads at once would tend to be complicated, I doubt if the software designer had thought that could happen.

[Randy]

That's OK, George. Thanks for the effort. The thread had pretty well run its course, as far as I'm concerned, and I got the information I asked for.

My apologies to you for goofing up my post and taking up part of your day.

[George Bulliss]

They all merged with a couple of clicks, so that part was easy. It was when I went to delete a single post that the entire thing disappeared. I either hit the wrong button or perhaps I had not backed out of the merge process entirely.

[EddyCurr]

Well.

If anyone is to blame, then it is me.

I'm the one that requested that the threads be merged.

George was just seeking to oblige my request.

[old mart]

Not just you, Eddy, I also asked George.

[EddyCurr]

I was reminiscing about John Stevenson earlier today in another thread.

If he were here today, I am sure he would lighten the moment with a particular pithy remark only he could really ever carry off well.

[rickyb]

Threads? What threads? I don’t see any threads.

[eKretz]

I guess the threads got stripped? 😁

[BCRider]

I guess the threads got stripped? 😁

BADDA-BOOM- ZHANG!

Just to bring this back onto the original topic....

Y'all know that there's lots of videos on YT on repairing, reforming screw heads, right?

Not much to be done with cheeze head phillips screws that got wallowed out. But reforming slot head screws is very common.

[Willy]

Yup, might as well tig a nut onto them as well.

[kev74]

George, you found the easiest way to remove the damaged screws! Well done! 😁

[Mr Fixit]

Wouldn't John say Clumsy Bastard...

[Bob La Londe]

I am sure all you guys already covered this. One thing I learned from a GunTuber named Mark Novak was peening back the slots in a screw. Its not 100%, but when paired with penetrating oil (Mark seems to prefer Kroil), gentle persuasion and sometimes heat it sometimes seems to work. Last year I bought 13 "junk" guns from Gun Broker. I've used this method to recover and reuse several screws already. I gently take the burr raised by a "clumsy bastard" with a screw driver and peen it back into place with a light hammer and a punch. Then I put a few drops of Kroil (I've been using Kroil for 10-15 years (long time)) and leave it sit for a few hours. I've been very surprised by how often this works on screws others clearly were not able to remove. I'm also quite surprised by how often the screw looks very good after this process. I can reuse the original screw and it looks like a normal part of an old gun. I had one recently that still seemed stubborn so with a tight fitting blade I applied gentle rotational force while tapping on the driver handle with my light hammer. This is actually a trick I have used many times in the past, so I was not surprised it worked. Just that the hammer and punch reformed screw head held up to the task. So far I have not had to use heat, but I am far from done repairing these old guns. A couple of them are ready for a range day test.

[BCRider]

Bob, I've had similar results on my old gun work too.

My "weapon of choice" is my little dainty 3.5oz ball peen that is doctored up with well polished faces. And at some point I'd like to make an even lighter hammer for this work. Light and delicate seems to be the best way for these smaller size screw repairs.