Favorite screwdrivers

Snap-on

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>I've picked up a few of the old black-handled Snap-ons at garage sales (what, buy new? I'd be drummed out of the bottom-feeders corps), and I understand why people pay obscene prices for them. Nothing seems to match 'em.

Re: Favorite screwdrivers

Bob Hackett(Mainely,Bob)

>What has really helped me is an ergonomic ratcheting screwdriver by Craftsman.The handle is like and oversized egg mounted at an angle to the shaft.

Another favorite is the old 6in1 with a new twist,the handle can be mounted 90 dregees to the shaft forming a T handled screwdriver.Sure is easier for my failing grip to torque things down with this one.Husky(at the borg)is one brand that makes it.

Mainely,Bob-Who doesn`t want to think about all the money spent on Snap-on screwdrivers that now sleep in the big red toolbox.

Next Problem

Thomas Skaggs, Foothills of Mount Level

>Nothing like a good set of screwdrivers but then with the quality of screws these days does it matter? Oh, I know it does....just a moment for me to whine about the declining quality of fasteners these days. Seems like fasteners are getting worse year after year.

I mostly use McFeely but the stuff I get at the hardware stores these days are worthless!

Tommy

Re: Favorite screwdrivers

Steve Kubien

>Not very pretty but at Home Depot they sell (here in Canada, at least) a handle with 6 or 7 bits in the handle (and one mounted in a magnetic hex-bit holder/tip). You remove the bit from the tip and use it to advance the next bit you need, while storing the original bit at the same time. They are often a pretty orange or yellow colour. This is a pretty decent tool and saves you hunting for the right size. The great thing is, the bits are replacable and only cost less than $1. Not an heirloom tool, but very handy.

Regards,

Steve Kubien

just happened upon this.... *LINK*

Steve Kubien

>Here is a link to a review of the screwdriver I mentioned.


Picquic Sixpac Plus screwdriver

Pretty Good!

Brad in Ottawa

>Definitely not in the same league as Snap on, but I picked up a couple. The first one is for me because they are handy and offer a bunch of options when up a ladder.

The second one is for my wife so I don't have any bent knives in the kitchen drawer or any chisels borrowed to pry open cans.

Brad

Re: Favorite screwdrivers

Jack Guzman from Maine

>I use a six-in-one for general carpentry work but for screws I don't want to strip I go with klein.Snap-on is great but you gotta find a truck.They sell klein's everywhere.---Jack

Re: Favorite screwdrivers

Frank Mutchler in Colorado Springs

>Wiley, I bought my first set of Magna Tips about 25 years ago. It was a Master set and about 4 times bigger than the one in the link. Brownells also sells a grinding wheel that can be used to make special sizes. The point is, you can get a bit that precisely matches your screw and eliminates slippage on the screw head.

Aside from Grey Goose, fresh OJ and kiwis...

David Barnett - Venice, Florida

>It's a little old (1920's, maybe) wood handled no-name mechanic's screwdriver given to me by Trevor Robinson when he delivered my Stanley #358 miter box and that big Disston saw. Not bad for twenty-five bucks (gloat, gloat). Anyway, that screwdriver stays with me and gets used for everything. The tip is good and hard, downright tough. I'd say "nothing special", but somehow it is. Trevor always threw in a little free item whenever I'd buy something; a nice block of macassar ebony, a pretty scrap of African Blackwood, and so on. Funny, too... these are the things I tend to remember. Aside from the miter box and my first moulding planes, I can't remember the other stuff now.

KLEIN!!!!

Bruce, a MN Galoot

>

What do New Zealanders have to do with

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>screwdrivers?

Oh-oh. I think I may be opening the door for some even worse humor. Bravely, I push the "post" button.

A NZ screwdriver's "42 Below" and "Woolite"

David Barnett - Venice, Florida

>

I'm kind of fond of this one *LINK*

Don in Northern Arizona

>It changes heads with a pull and a twist. No danger of dropping a head while on the ladder.

Don


Lee Valley Autoloader

Stanley 100 Plus *LINK*

Hank Knight from SC

>Stanley 100 Plus screwdrivers are still some of the best made IMHO. They are made with both slotted and phillips tips. They still make a slotted "cabinet" tip that is not flared like a standard straight tip. It allows you to tighten screws in a deep countersink without damaging the sides of the hole. I don't see them at the hardware store anymore, but they are available through MSC Industrial Supply and elsewhere I'm sure. See link below -they're the ones with the black and yellow handles.


Stanley 100 Plus

Re: Next Problem

Ernie Miller

>Tommy I bought a box of 3/4" #6 screws a while back when I opend them they didn't have any slots for the screw driver. Can't take them back as I have lost the reciept! I might have to buy another box and take the bad oes back such a pain

Summary

Wiley Horne--Glendora, CA

>1. Thanks very much to all!

2. Klein is the center of mass, but mostly everyone is doing something a little different.

3. Google search of the situation found a bunch of folks (antique radio nuts, for example) who, like Bill Houghton, are looking high and low for square, black-handled Snap-Ons. Note to self: always listen to Bill Houghton.

4. Why does Snap-On feel the need to color code their screwdrivers? Black was OK. Makes me think the beancounters have gotten in charge down at SnapOn, instead of the engineering dept. That's always the end of things.

5. Don't much like gizmocity in tools. More things to go wrong. But those Canadian autoloaders seem like a great alternative to my 3 or 4 different multi-point screwdrivers, each of which is missing from 1/3 to 2/3 of the danged bits. They just fall out folks--end of story. Except every once in great while I find one underneath something, but it won't be the #2 Phillips or the larger straight slot that I need. And the Torx never get lost; they're johnny on the spot.

6. Somebody on line said there's a metric Phillips (ISO specs) and a 'real' Phillips that actually fits--anything to this, or another urban legend? No, this is not to be confused with Reed and Prince, which is not Phillips at all--two different Phillips specs is the charge. Guy said he had been running all around to different stores with screws in his hand looking for a screwdriver that actually fit 'em--can you believe this?

7. Anyway, I still like square drive in a North Bros brace. Specially those little trim head McFeely's, except why don't they make a 3/16" counterbore/countersink for em?

7. Bottom line: Gonna order a coupla Klein and a coupla Snap On, and try to find out what's what. And go from there.

Thank you again! Wiley

One solution I have found.....

Thomas Skaggs, Foothills of Mount Level

>Ernie,

You are a die hard hunter of rust. I cannot match you there but I am definitely taking more notice of jars full of old fasteners when I go to auctions or estate sales. Since they don't make them like they used to I figure buy old!!

Tommy

answer to #6

Bob Lang

>There is a "Pozi-Drive" that looks like a Phillips, but isn't. At the juncture of the crossed recesses the Pozi-drive is square, and the Phillips is rounded. The Pozi-drive was invented by the Phillips company, but the common use is in European cabinet hardware. The square recess keeps it from really engaging a Phillips head, and a Philips in a Pozi-drive screw is much more likely to slip.

Bob Lang

Re: answer to #6

Jack Guzman from Maine

>They also started using posidrive screws in auto manufacture in the early 80s.Interior trim screws for one.The useless oneI have I bought off a snap-on truck back then.Hey!! It never wore out!---Jack

Re: Favorite screwdrivers

David Hay @ Denver

>My favorite screwdriver for around the house is something like this:

http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PMAKA=02029536&PMCTLG=00

It's easy to switch from slotted to philips head, you only need the one driver, and no fumbling with various bits. Now if I could find one that had a square drive in the mix, that would be great!

David

That's why I like the one that Steve

Wiley Horne--Glendora, CA

>Kubien pointed us at. It's an all-in-one, with small square drive, small phillips, and small straight slot IIRC--the ones I mainly need, except for paint cans. I need one of them in every drawer in the house, so's I can always find a screwdriver. Well maybe not every drawer, but every room.

Wiley

Oops, excuse me, it's the Lee Valley

Wiley Horne--Glendora, CA

>one that I wuz trying to remember. It's on the list for the next online trip to LV. Sorry for wasting bandwidth on a bad memory.

Wiley

Your summary note #3

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>As I have previously disclosed, I am not the 57-going-on-58 year old with some years of experience with tools that I claim, but actually a 14-year-old whose only experience with hand tools involves computer mice (and who thinks a router is a computer network component, but that's the power tool side) - so why would you listen to me?