Here's one that may be helpful when you break off that nice shiny brass
screw you just inserted and don't have a screw extractor of the proper size.

Pick up several rolled pins at the local hardware or automotive store in
1/8", 3/16" and 1/4" sizes in lengths long enough to go to the depth of the
screw plus enough to be held in the chuck of your hand-held drill. (1"
length for the 1/8" up 2" length for the 1/4" pin)

Simply file a notch in the end of the pin to make it into a left-hand drill
bit, insert into your drill and set for reverse. Place over the screw and
drill down around the broken screw and pull out the plug. You can then fill
in the hole with a section of dowel and start over.

To make the rolled pin into a left-hand drill bit, hold the pin with the
seam facing you. At the top of the pin, use a small file to file down the
end on the left side of the seam leaving the right side of the seam intact
to form the cutting edge as shown below. This type of notching doesn't burn
the wood (as bad) in hardwoods as does just making a criss-cross cut on top
of the pin to drill the wood.

Notch
|\ | |
| \| | Rolled Pin
| | |
| | |
^^ Seam


Bob S.