How do you make rounded-top tapered plugs?

[LCHIEN]

I'm fixing a minor piece of furniture for someone - the screws are covered with tapered plugs which I assume I'll have to destroy to remove.

I figure I'll use a chisel and a hammer to break the plug and then take out the pieces? Or should I try and drill a pilot hole and extrac tit with a gimlet. I think they're not real tight and may spin If i try the latter. What suggestions do you guys have?

I can cut tapered plugs with a plug cutter I have but they'll be flat faced instead of rounded faced. Unless I learn how to round them... anyone know how to do that? Can you buy them? (Internet fact checker falling down on job...)

Do furniture made in Europe and Asia use metric sized plugs? e.g. 12 mm instead of half inch? The holes look to be .46" =11.7 mm, I guess if the plug is tapered it doesn't matter which.

[Martin]

round top plugs

Buy at Woodcraft. They have different woods, and different diameters.

[radhak]

You could get them here or here or on ebay here.

When I had to do it for a couple of plugs, I simply ran regular plugs (I think I used some small dowels) against my belt sander to the approx taper and roundness; of course, screwed a metal screw from the bottom to hold with, to save my fingers.

[LCHIEN]

You could get them here or here or on ebay here.

When I had to do it for a couple of plugs, I simply ran regular plugs (I think I used some small dowels) against my belt sander to the approx taper and roundness; of course, screwed a metal screw from the bottom to hold with, to save my fingers.

that's an idea, I was wondering how to save the fingers if using a sander to roundover the tops...

[cabinetman]

I figure I'll use a chisel and a hammer to break the plug and then take out the pieces? Or should I try and drill a pilot hole and extrac tit with a gimlet. I think they're not real tight and may spin If i try the latter. What suggestions do you guys have?

Drill a pilot hole and insert a few threads of a small screw and pull out (wiggle if necessary) with a pliers.

I can cut tapered plugs with a plug cutter I have but they'll be flat faced instead of rounded faced. Unless I learn how to round them... anyone know how to do that? Can you buy them? (Internet fact checker falling down on job...)

What's the reason for a round head plug? Is it so you don't have to sand and do a touch up finish? Round head plugs usually are shouldered over the plug so the underside of the head seats on the surface.

.

[LCHIEN]

for some odd reason these were rounded top, no shoulder, sunk below the surface.

Anyway, thanks for the discussion, its now moot since i figured out a way to make the repair without disassembly.

[cabinetman]

for some odd reason these were rounded top, no shoulder sunk, below the surface.

Anyway, thanks for the discussion, its now moot since i figured out a way to make the repair without disassembly.

It may be moot, but to clear up the shoulder being seated below the surface, the round head plugs AKA "buttons" have a tenon smaller than the diameter of the head. That keeps the button from sinking below the surface.

If they weren't made that way and a plug just had a rounded top, it's possible the plug could be inserted to a depth, leaving a reveal at the edge where the rounded part becomes narrower than the hole.

.

[Lonnie in Orlando]

Loring:

Are the original plugs end grain or face grain?

If end grain, you can round over the end of a store-bought dowel, or turn a dowel from the same wood as the furniture.

If the plugs are face grain, you may be able to make replacements with a plug cutter. If you can cut the plug long enough, you may be able to chuck it into a drill and round over the thick end. Trial and error for the length. The plugs are weak across the length, so use a light touch.

A thought - - I've never cut a plug in end grain. If the original plugs are end grain, you might be able to cut replacements with a tapered plug cutter and round over the top as above. This would give a tight fit and the wood would match.

- Lonnie

[Stytooner]

One other bit of useful info.
To remove plugs of any type, just drive a long screw dead center. The screw bottoms out on the head of the buried screw and the plug pops out threaded onto the new screw.
Not a choice if you need to reuse the plugs of course.

[smorris]

One other bit of useful info.
To remove plugs of any type, just drive a long screw dead center. The screw bottoms out on the head of the buried screw and the plug pops out threaded onto the new screw.
Not a choice if you need to reuse the plugs of course.

I've always had good luck with this method, I use drywall screws and just drive them in the center and pop, out comes the plug. YMMV.

[dbhost]

FWIW, Typically, I have been able to shimmy a thin piece of metal stock under the plug lip if it is one of the mushroom top plugs, and just sort of work it out of the hole... Assuming it isn't glued in or anything...

[LCHIEN]

resolution

FWIW, Typically, I have been able to shimmy a thin piece of metal stock under the plug lip if it is one of the mushroom top plugs, and just sort of work it out of the hole... Assuming it isn't glued in or anything...

Dave, I call that "thin piece of metal stock" a pocket knife blade.

I've seen plugs with lips and tapered plugs with no lips that were seated with a reveal. Either is removable if not glued... usually a pocket knife will lift the lipped one and if you push the blade ever so slightly into the side of the revealed ones you can lever the plug out if you work both sides.

this was a piece of chinese made furniture I don't know if it was knocked down and assembled by the ex-BIL or preassembled here or in china. But the 8 plugs, 7 of them were sunk below the surface, the one I levered out was definately tapered but not so wide that I could not have easily pounded it below the surface in with a hammer.

I initially suspected the plugs were plastic but from that one I'm pretty sure they were wood - the tops (and the item they were installed in) were lacquered so I could not tell how the grain ran.

Anyway this 30" wide piece had a bookshelf between the sides. The shelf had a back and bottom - made of 3/8" wood stuff. The shelf leaned backwards almost 45 degrees so the book spines would be more easily visible from above. The back was held to the bottom with 2 screws. When i got it the back and the bottom were both bowed from the weight of the books (remember I said 3/8" thick?) and the screws were nowhere to be found having apparently stripped out and gave way under load. However the screw holes from the bottom of the bottom shelf to the end of the hole was around 3/4"

So if you can imagine 2 screws with only 3/8" engagement and thin enough to put in the edge of 3/8" thick material, holding 30" of books and bracing a 3/8" thick shelf, well, you can get the picture - thin shelf bowed, pulling out the short, small gauge screws with only minimal enagement depth.

She wanted to save the item so i put 5 #6 screws with about 1-1/4" inch engagement along the edge. The screws actually telegraph a little, the material being so thin, but no one will see it.

At first i wanted to pull the ends off (held with the hidden screws) because the shelves were in dados in the ends. But I was able to use a large number of clamps and line up the bowed back and bottom, pin nail it for security, so I could drill blindly into the bottom and hit the center of the edge of the back. So I didn't need to remove the screw covers after all. Thanks for all your help though - I did learn something from the research process.

[cabinetman]

Anyway this 30" wide piece had a bookshelf between the sides. The shelf had a back and bottom - made of 3/8" wood stuff. The shelf leaned backwards almost 45 degrees so the book spines would be more easily visible from above. The back was held to the bottom with 2 screws. When i got it the back and the bottom were both bowed from the weight of the books (remember I said 3/8" thick?) and the screws were nowhere to be found having apparently stripped out and gave way under load. However the screw holes from the bottom of the bottom shelf to the end of the hole was around 3/4"

So if you can imagine 2 screws with only 3/8" engagement and thin enough to put in the edge of 3/8" thick material, holding 30" of books and bracing a 3/8" thick shelf, well, you can get the picture - thin shelf bowed, pulling out the short, small gauge screws with only minimal enagement depth.

Would it have been possible to remove the ⅜" material, dado out for ¾", and make a new shelf with ¾". It could sit in a very shallow dadoe, like 1/8" or 3/16".


.

[LCHIEN]

Would it have been possible to remove the ⅜" material, dado out for ¾", and make a new shelf with ¾". It could sit in a very shallow dadoe, like 1/8" or 3/16".


.

That would be a good fix but I wasn't being paid that much to fix it!
If I had chosen to do it that way, I'd leave the dado alone but rabbet the shelf to fit the existing dado.

Really though the purpose of screwing the bottom to the back is to increase the apparent stiffness, they just didn't make the joint strong enough for the width shelf they put in. Sheesh, two tiny screws with only 3/8" thread engagement...