Had a cabinet door hinge strip out on me in the kitchen last night

I was all set to drill it out and put in a bigger screw but my neighbor stopped by and showed me how to just fill the hole with wood glue and toothpicks instead... Saved me from making a bigger mess, has anyone else tried that trick on soft particle board cabinets?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrewh9513h ago

Yeah I read about that trick a while ago on some DIY site, it's pretty clever. The toothpicks act like little wood fibers that soak up the glue and create a new surface for the screw to bite into. I tried it on a cheap IKEA cabinet that had a stripped hinge hole and it actually held up fine for over a year before we moved out. Just make sure you break the toothpicks off flush with the surface and let the glue dry completely before you put the screw back in. Works way better than drilling into particle board and hoping for the best.

jesse9888h ago

Totally feel you @andrewh95, that toothpick trick saved my bacon once too. I had this cheap bookshelf from Walmart where every screw hole was basically dust, and I was about to throw the whole thing out. Tried the toothpick and glue method on the worst one, let it sit overnight, and it held a whole row of cookbooks for like two years before I finally upgraded. Def beats tossing furniture for one stripped hole.