Chestnut tools parallel sided screwdrivers

Almost to pretty to use!!!! Nice Score.  Your friend should be happy.
  Ron

What does parallel sided mean?

It means the that the tip of the screwdriver has two parallel sides rather than being tapered like a more common screwdriver. The parallel sided design more completely fills a slotted screw slot. Since it engages more of the sides of the slot, that reduces the chance of the driver tip slipping or skewing and denting the edges of the screw slot.



They are also parallel in the other dimension rather than flaring out. That is useful when driving screws into holes that are sunken. A flared screwdriver risks having the wide part of the tip rub against the walls of the hole. Or if you use a smaller flared driver to avoid that problem then the tip is too small for the screw head.

@Gary Radice,

Is it a Japanese thing, like the difference between JIS and Phillips?

I have never heard of it, but I have ground flat screwdrivers like that for the reasons you mentioned. Seems they should all be made that way IMO.

Not Japanese. These are Canadian. Chestnut tools is a sister company to Lee Valley/Veritas and are/were made in Ontario.

I do not know which came first.....where it originated.......but, I first became aware of this type of screwdriver head on screwdrivers made specifically to work on firearms.

Chestnut Tools was set up as a brand name by Rob Lee to honour his father, Leonard Lee. As sold by Lee Valley, Veritas denotes tools that are made in North Americas (including Canada), while Chestnut Tools can be made specifically for Lee Valley by manufacturers outside of the Northern Americas. As such, they are cheaper than Veritas but still high quality.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Actually Chestnut Tools was created by Mr Lee after he retired from Lee Valley. His team designed tools and they were sold through Lee Valley.

http://lgleeandsons.com/AboutUs.aspx