Which Screw Extractor Brand Wins?
A head-to-head test of 11 screw extractor options with 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. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Screw Test | Bolt Test | Retest On New Screw |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Grabit Pro screw and bolt extractor$31.89 | 205 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 | 632 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 | 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 |
| 2Irwin Hanson spiral flute extractor set, 5 piece, EX1 through EX5$10.34 | 55 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 | 1,007 inch pounds, nearly the same as the Tiamat; minor wear on the extractor | not tested |
| 3DrillHog 8 piece$59.98 | screw broke during the test at 62 inch pounds; damage to the flutes suggests the screw was quite a bit harder than the extractor | 1,625 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 | not tested |
| 4Bosch 12 piece screw extractor and drill set$24.95 | 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 | 1,531 inch pounds, the best bolt result at that point in the test; very minor wear on the flutes considering the impressive torque load | not tested |
| 5Cleveland 12 piece$66.41, the most expensive extractor set tested | 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 | 1,377 inch pounds before the bolt split; very little wear on the flutes | not tested |
| 6Speed Out SpeedOut, As Seen on TV, damaged screw extractor$12.95 | 157 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 | 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 | 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 |
| 7Irwin Hanson multi-spline extractor set$28.49 | 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 | 954 inch pounds, held up very well with no visible damage to the extractor | not tested |
| 8TIAMAT 6 piece$9.99, the least expensive extractor set tested | did not provide a measurable grip on the screw and the extractor itself experienced quite a bit of damage | 1,036 inch pounds, did pretty good; the spiral screw on the extractor experienced some minor wear | not tested |
| 9Ryobi spiral screw extractor set$11.99 | 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 | 868 inch pounds once threaded into the bolt; the spiral screw on the extractor experienced a little wear | not tested |
| 10Rennsteig 3 piece extractor setright at $25 | seemed to be doing a great job until it broke at 74 inch pounds | lost grip at 452 inch pounds; quite a bit of wear and tear on the extractor, the worst bolt result of all brands tested | not tested |
| 11Yasco 18 piece$10.99 | 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 | 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 | not 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.