I caution use of the steel wool if the screw is to ever be removed
again. If the steel wool gets moist and rusts, the screw will bond to
it in a solid mass, and removal will not be possible with a screwdriver
and will leave a much larger eccentric hole to repair. I discovered my
first screw like this in a damply stored H. C. Bay Recordo which went
to Dewey Hodo.
Some time later I was watching a railway tie replacing operation and
discovered that some spikes had been replaced in holes filled with steel
wool or steel filings, since you couldn't easily get the track out of
the way to fix the hole or drive a larger spike through a plate.
The iron would rust and swell until the whole mass was firmly embedded
in the wood tie. When the spikes were pulled, they broke the tie or
ripped an impressive hole.
Karl Petersen
Gandy dancing in Washington, Illinois
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