Getting a purchase on stripped screws

Here's a tip that I picked up in my previous career as an aircraft mechanic. If your Phillipshead screwdriver can't get a very good grip on the screw because the slots are worn on the screw head, put a dab of valve-grinding compound on the tip of the screwdriver. Often the extra grip from this gritty paste is enough to give the screwdriver the purchase it needs to loosen the screw.

Michael Seidman, Quakertown, PA

From Fine Homebuilding 114, pp. 32 March 1, 1998

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Getting a purchase on stripped screws

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