A stripped screw in wood will likely be flush with the material or slightly lower than the surface, so using a stripped screw extractor is your best bet to retrieve the screw.

Thus, the screw stays put but the extractor continues to turn, reaming out the hole in the process. An alternative, old-school method is to use a straight-flute extractor.

Screw head broke off again? Learn how to get a broken screw out, along with rusted or stripped screws, with special bits, pliers, or a screw extractor tool.

If some of the more DIY methods below don't work, professional contractors use screw extractor sets to remove stripped screws. Extractors are a special style of double-sided drill bit.

Co-owner, Andy Carlson, setup a stripped out screw demo for us. We picked the appropriate sized Speed Out bit based on the instructions and drilled the hole in the screw head.