Golf tees to fix hinges

 OK.  I am firmly in the camp of you don't have to trash others, even if you think what they're saying or doing is wrong.  I stand by that.

I will say though, there's room for putting good information out into the world even when maybe not-so-good information seems prevalent.   This is one of those cases.

If you follow any of a LOT of so called "diy" accounts or channels online, you will inevitably find someone advising us to fill the holes in door hinges with wooden golf tees, or toothpicks, or matchsticks, any many other similar such things to "fix" said holes if they are stripped or not holding in some way correctly. 

Now, yeah... you "can" use wood golf tees to fill in those holes then put screws back into those holes again. I'm not so sure this isn't one of those "just because you can, doesn't mean you should" situations. 

In fact, I'll go so far as to say, I really hope you don't do that. Structurally speaking, it's a temporary fix at best.  It's an "Oh shit, I need this door to stay in place but don't have the right stuff to fix it now." moment.  And IF that's the use case, no harm no foul.  As long as it does get repaired properly,  soon.

As a permanent fix?  Not so much.

How do I do that fix?  Honestly, I'm a Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty (DRHWP) fan.  

1. Take the door off. 

2. Make sure there's no loose pieces of wood around or in the holes that you can find.

3. Mix up a small batch of DRHWP.

4. Once the mixture is thick enough to still be batter-like but no longer runny, apply some into the holes, giving good compression to push the putty as fully into the holes as possible.

5. Once fully hardened, use a small bit to make pilot holes for the new screws, then, put the hinges back on, screwing them in like normal.

Let me take a moment to mention the value of drilling pilot holes.  Most screws are not self tapping.  Especially wood screws that get used in hinges.  It greatly behooves us to prepare the way for the screw instead of letting a screw do unnecessary damage to the wood and weakening the connection.

Because that happens. It's why we drill pilot holes.  When we use fillers to repair wood, if we don't drill pilot holes, it can break and tear up the fillers.  Some more so than others.  

The materials that the golf tees and other such "sticks" is very soft wood.  They will deteriorate and break down, taking you right back to why you had to take the hinges off.

Something to think about.

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