DIYbanter - View Single Post - How to screw a tin-can (for pencils) to wood surface (so won't fall off)?

Smitty Two

In article ,
(David Combs) wrote:

I use tin cans (eg goya beans) for storing pencils and pens of
one kind or another. But sometimes it wall fall off the shelf
it sits on (or I knock it off), and the pencils end up all over
the floor.

So, I decided to screw-down the cans:

I drilled a hoile in the bottom of each one, and then
drilled a starter-hole in the (cheap) wood shelf, one
per hole.

Now I get the proper wood screw, reach inside the can,
stick it through the bottom hole, and into the starter
hole, and screw down the can. SIMPLE!

Not so simple!

1: My hand is too big to reach into the can.
2: With needle-nose pliers, I manage to get
the screw through the hole (can held up in the air),
but am unable to line up the screw with the starter-hole.

Also, when sliding the can around, to find starter hole,
the screw will flip out of the hole in the can.

Question: how should I proceed?

Would be nice to have a maagnetic screwdriver -- but
I don't.

Or, unbend a paper-clip, stick it through the hole,
then with the can held an inch or two above the
wood (so I can see the starter-hole), stick the
protruding end into the hole, then try to set the
can down, and then someohow stick the screw into
the double-hole -- but when I try the screwdriver
on it, it flips out of the hole.

What to do? Epoxy it to the screwdriver (joke)?

What would YOU do?

Thanks!

David

That's funny, 13 replies and I didn't see one that suggested the easy
way that I do all the time for similar stuff:

1. Hold screwdriver with tip pointing up, balance phillips head screw on
it.

2. Turn can upside down and lower it over the screw and screwdriver
until the screw is through the hole.

3. Hold the can and screwdriver firmly together, trapping the screw as
you turn it all right side up.

4. Put the tip of the screw in the pilot hole in the wood.

5. Start the screw in the hole with a few turns before optionally
letting go of the can.