Posted by Clint Dixon on Thursday, May 19, 2005 at 5:53PM :
I was trying to remove one of the striker plates on a door. I had soaked the Flathead screws for a day or so with PB Blaster, but the first screw broke with the first turn of the screwdriver. Three more days of soaking and I was finally able to work the remaining screw free with a screwdriver. This left the broken screw still in the other tapped hole. I put the smallest tip I have in my torch and turned down the mixture as far as I could without loosing the flame. I heated the broken screw to cherry red and when it had cooled to black again, I clamped on a pair of 7-inch Vice Grips. There was only about 1/16" of screw protruding to grip on. I was able to break the screw loose but it would not turn more than a degree or two. It took over an hour of reheating, reclamping, soaking with PB Blaster, and rotating the screw back and forth between the extremes that I could but I was finally able to remove it. As you can see, there is not much left of the end of the screw where I was clamping.
I normally don't have the patience for this and I usually end up making things worse. Maybe I should attribute my newfound determination and success to the nearing of old age. ;^)
Junior
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