Which Screw Extractor Brand Wins?
This head-to-head test of 11 screw extractor options has the measured results for each. See how they ranked and watch the full test video.
Irwin (5 piece Hanson spiral flute set, EX1 through EX5, $10.34)
Price shown in test: $10.34
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Products are listed in the order they finished.
Screw Test
- 1Grabit Pro screw and bolt extractor205 inch pounds
an amazing result and about the best of all brands tested on the damaged exterior screw; would have put up a bigger number but the drill itself was not up to the task; minor wear as expected after such a high torque load
- 2Irwin Hanson spiral flute extractor set, 5 piece, EX1 through EX555 inch pounds
more than enough to remove the 2 and 1/2 in screw but not enough to remove the 4 in drywall screw which required 79 inch pounds; screw head did not shear off; extractor held up well with minor damage to the flutes
- 3DrillHog 8 piece
screw broke during the test at 62 inch pounds; damage to the flutes suggests the screw was quite a bit harder than the extractor
- 4Bosch 12 piece screw extractor and drill set
seemed to be doing a great job but suddenly broke at 79 inch pounds; the included twist drill did a very good job on the screw but experienced quite a bit of wear
- 5Cleveland 12 piece
head of the screw sheared during the test at 62 inch pounds; the included twist drill made easy work of drilling the screw but experienced some wear; very small amount of wear on the flutes
- 6Speed Out SpeedOut, As Seen on TV, damaged screw extractor157 inch pounds
about three times better than the previously tested brands at that point; the extractor end held up very well without noticeable damage; the bit itself was pretty chewed up after contact with the screw
- 7Irwin Hanson multi-spline extractor set
the smallest extractor in this set was too large for the screw and using the required 1/8 in drill bit weakened the screw too much; the head of the screw sheared off at around 84 inch pounds; the extractor itself held up really well with only minor wear
- 8TIAMAT 6 piece
did not provide a measurable grip on the screw and the extractor itself experienced quite a bit of damage
- 9Ryobi spiral screw extractor set
just like the Tiamat, did not get a good grip on the screw; the torque adapter did not make it past zero inch pounds; experienced a lot of damage, the screw appeared to be made of a harder metal than the extractor
- 10Rennsteig 3 piece extractor set
seemed to be doing a great job until it broke at 74 inch pounds
- 11Yasco 18 piece
the included drill did not cut well at all, requiring around 250 lb of force from the drill press to drill the hole; the extractor itself broke at only 55 inch pounds
Bolt Test
- 1Grabit Pro screw and bolt extractor632 inch pounds
drilled the bolt faster than the SpeedOut but not as effectively as a high quality twist drill; held up very well with no visible wear
- 2Irwin Hanson spiral flute extractor set, 5 piece, EX1 through EX51,007 inch pounds
nearly the same as the Tiamat; minor wear on the extractor
- 3DrillHog 8 piece1,625 inch pounds
before losing grip, the best bolt result of all brands tested; quite a bit of wear on the extractor despite the impressive torque load
- 4Bosch 12 piece screw extractor and drill set1,531 inch pounds
the best bolt result at that point in the test; very minor wear on the flutes considering the impressive torque load
- 5Cleveland 12 piece1,377 inch pounds
before the bolt split; very little wear on the flutes
- 6Speed Out SpeedOut, As Seen on TV, damaged screw extractor
took around 45 seconds to drill the bolt and the drill bit was pretty much used up after one use; 769 inch pounds, but with quite a bit of wear on the extractor
- 7Irwin Hanson multi-spline extractor set954 inch pounds
held up very well with no visible damage to the extractor
- 8TIAMAT 6 piece1,036 inch pounds
did pretty good; the spiral screw on the extractor experienced some minor wear
- 9Ryobi spiral screw extractor set868 inch pounds
once threaded into the bolt; the spiral screw on the extractor experienced a little wear
- 10Rennsteig 3 piece extractor set
lost grip at 452 inch pounds; quite a bit of wear and tear on the extractor, the worst bolt result of all brands tested
- 11Yasco 18 piece
the included drill bit was of poor quality and took a couple of minutes to drill into the bolt; delivered 398 inch pounds as it threaded itself in, not too bad considering it is a much smaller extractor than the other brands tested
All measurements (1 more)+
Retest On New Screw
- 1Grabit Pro screw and bolt extractor
in the head to head retest against the SpeedOut on a fresh exterior screw, the Grabit Pro did a great job drilling into the screw and did an even better job extracting the stripped screw
- 6Speed Out SpeedOut, As Seen on TV, damaged screw extractor
in the head to head retest, over 100 lb of downward force was applied and the exterior screw was too hard for the SpeedOut's own drill; a twist drill from the Bosch set was used instead and made easy work of it, after which the SpeedOut did a terrific job extracting the screw
- 2Irwin Hanson spiral flute extractor set, 5 piece, EX1 through EX5not tested
- 3DrillHog 8 piecenot tested
- 4Bosch 12 piece screw extractor and drill setnot tested
- 5Cleveland 12 piecenot tested
- 7Irwin Hanson multi-spline extractor setnot tested
- 8TIAMAT 6 piecenot tested
- 9Ryobi spiral screw extractor setnot tested
- 10Rennsteig 3 piece extractor setnot tested
- 11Yasco 18 piecenot tested
How it was tested
- torque required to back a screw out of a pressure treated 4x4 (baseline, no extractor)
- maximum torque removing a damaged/stripped exterior screw before extractor failure or screw shear
- head to head retest of the top two screw performers (SpeedOut and Grabit Pro) on a fresh damaged screw
- maximum torque removing a grade 5, 9/16 in bolt before loss of grip or bolt failure
- extractor wear/durability evaluated under a microscope
Data notes and caveats
This video crowns two separate per-use-case picks rather than one overall winner, so winner is left null per the per-use-case-favorites rule: for the damaged screw test the video says it is very hard to beat the Grabit Pro, and for larger bolt applications it says the spiral flute design is most effective and, considering the bargain price, it is hard to beat the Irwin 5 piece spiral flute set at only about $11 (recorded here as budgetPick). Baseline torque required to back each screw out of the test board without any extractor was established first: 79 inch pounds for the 4 in drywall screw, 49 inch pounds for the 2 and 1/2 in Tapcon, and 45 inch pounds for the 2 and 1/2 in exterior screw. This video contains two distinct Irwin branded products (a 5 piece Hanson spiral flute set, EX1 through EX5, at $10.34, and a Hanson multi-spline set at $28.49); the description lists only one Irwin Hanson entry, but the transcript gives each its own separate price introduction and separate torque results in both the screw and bolt tests, so they are recorded as two separate products here. DrillHog, Bosch, and Cleveland share the same spiral flute extractor design and finished as the top three bolt performers by raw torque (1,625, 1,531, and 1,377 inch pounds respectively), but all three failed the screw test by breaking or shearing the screw.
