Greg wrote:
I have several screws that need to be removed from a 2x6 piece of wood
that forms the base of my raised stove hearth. I've tried drilling
into them to be able to remove the board, but my bits won't cut into
the metal and my bit is dulled. What type of bit would penetrate into
the screw? I need to remove the boards so I can lay a Pergo-type floor
underneath them, trim the boards, re-paint and replace the boards
around the hearth.


What may work for this is a 'screw extractor bit'. Said bits are
like very small hole saws you chuck into your drill and they cut
thorugh the wood around the screw. If possible, it is best to
almost cut just past the point of the screw, not all the way through
the board. That way you can back the extractor up out of the
hole leaving the plug behind. Then the plug with screw inside
can be broken off and removed from the board. If you drill all
the way through, or th eplug breaks off and stays in the extractor
it can be very difficult to remove from the extractor.

Those extractors as also pretty brittle.

Ordinary plug cutters may also work but if they hit the screw
they will be damaged. The screw extractors are hard enough
to survive _a little_ contact with the screws.

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FF