Repairing loose door hinge screws

[sbu22]

Analog of steel or brass wool. Usually sells in 5# chunks at big box stores for $5-6/#. Roofers and historic resto contractors use it a good bit like a caulk. Handy stuff. A little goes a long way for most uses.

 

[bilge53]

It is used to manufacture heavy weight sweaters and socks.

 

[DHeckrotte]

Boy! That's what a site like this is good for! I knew of lead wool as specified in 1920's architectural publications like 'The White Pine Series' and the first couple editions of 'Architectural Graphic Standards'. Practiced architecture for decades and never saw the stuff even mentioned.

I doubt that you could get it into screw holes. Not even I could ever use enough to justify purchasing 5lbs.

 

[sbu22]

There's NO DOUBT about inserting into screw holes. Maybe you should give it a shot before opining. Use a toothpick/matchstick - whatever's handy and size appropriate. Take a bit of wool, gently work it into the hole without fully compressing, until full, reinsert screw. I've used this many times over the years, for very small up to, I guess, 1/4". Results (if there's enough sound surrounding material matrix) in a secure fastener that lasts a long time.

I actually inherited my little wood box of the stuff from my grandfather in the 70s. A little goes a long way for such use. Devised by people who had little and needed to make do.

 

[DHeckrotte]

[There's NO DOUBT about inserting into screw holes. Maybe you should give it a shot before opining. Use a toothpick/matchstick - whatever's handy and size appropriate.] You can have NO idea how clumsy I am!

[I actually inherited my little wood box of the stuff from my grandfather in the 70s.] The best stuff comes that way.

[Devised by people who had little and needed to make do.] Lead has been around a long time. Fiberous calking has been around a long time.

I Googled, wondering how lead wool was made. Some hits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_wool ; even the Despot says they carry it (but not at the store near me): 5 lb. Lead Wool-B13652 - The Home Depot ; A page from 1906 Popular Mechanics suggesting the stuff was new then: https://books.google.com/books?id=YN4DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA1034&lpg=PA1034&dq=making+lead+wool&source=bl&ots=CpP6P_w-Kq&sig=_-yl8PtZGqZQ_NC1xTRZn6gH99o&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjU3sqbqqXLAhVJPz4KHVXzBaEQ6AEIXjAN#v=onepage&q=making%20lead%20wool&f=false ; a seller's page: lead wool, Chemical grade lead, caulking lead -

And, it's apparently the stuff in the radiation blankets used, for instance, when you're having your teeth X-rayed.

Did not find out how it was made, though.

 

[sbu22]

DHeckrotte:

The lead wool was kept around for precisely the purpose of repairing screw fasteners that had worked loose as we're discussing. If the threads arent completely gone, it works (sometimes) on metal as a poor mans helicoil. Also for slip-fit plumbing joints, although the wool was an expensive way to finish the seal as opposed to lead strips. Yeah, my hillbilly forebears knew and used oakum and other fiber products as appropriate.

Unlike steel, copper, and brass wools that are essentially wire pulled through a die to "shave" two sides of the wire to forming several long planar elements, lead does not have the tensile strength for such processing. Instead, circular plates of lead are cast. These plates are then rotated on a turntable while a pointed tool (similar to metal lathe turning tools) engages the lead surface (think of a vinyl record player), creating long planar shavings. Width of tool end and depth setting produces the "gage" of the wool.

 

[stubones99]

I'll bet it's hard to find in the EU. With RoHS getting the lead out of everything, I suspect lead is hard to market over there and perhaps here in the U.S.

 

[stubones99]

I guess that if you didn't have lead wool, bits of electronics rosin core solder would work too.

 

[DHeckrotte]

SBU, what kind of PE are you? I'm the only white sheep in a family full of engineers.

Interesting/fascinating info re: making lead wool. I could not quite imagine that you could draw lead as is normal for brass, steel, etc.

Getting back on track for the original post, here is a pic of my current screw hole repair effort. See more on my 'Lazarette Hatch' post.