CanuckBeaver

Hi all! A couple of things that I'm sure all of the old timers know but being a newby myself I thought I'd pass them on.

We all run into our favorites from time to time, Phillips or Brass screws.

For Phillips screws try fitting a Rob screwdriver in the head (find a snug fit) and just try it side by side with a Phillips screw driver. It reduces or eliminates damage to a Phillips screw.

On to brass screws, rub some candle wax into the threads of a brass screw before you start to drive it in. When you start turning the screw in the friction melts the wax and lubricates the screw. When you are finished the wax sets and holds the screw preventing from backing out due to vibration or hinge movement. Again try it side by side with and without wax.

I know it doesn't sound like much but every little bit helps.
Good luck,
CB

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kp91

I always drive steel screws of the same size in first, then the brass. That way they go in nice and easy and the heads don't get damaged.

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Doug
1 John 1:9

ejant

Great tips thanks.

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Mike

For members in the US, a ROB screwdriver is known here as a square drive. A handy tip for removing partially stripped out Phillips screws: Wet the tip of your screwdriver and dip it in a can of cleanser. The cleanser fills the head and can give you just enough purchase to get a screw out. Reed Prince screwdrivers(often called cabinet makers screwdrivers) look like a Phillips but come to a sharp point. You can use the sharp point to bore a small hole to start your screws. If you need to remove a tamper proof Torx fastener, you can often use a small straight blade screwdriver wedged between the security pin and the sides. "Snake Eye's" fasteners(two small holes) can be removed or installed using snap ring pliers. Since everybody has interchangeable bit screwdrivers these days, buy yourself a set of security bits. Tamper proof hex or Torx drivers will handle standard hex or Torx fasteners.
Now for the part where everyone thinks I'm crazy. Tighten a #2 Phillips screw into metal as tight as you can with a Craftsman Screwdriver. A Snap on Screwdriver will take it right out. But if you use the Snap on to tighten the screw, the Craftsman wont budge it. Try it, you get what you pay for.

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Mike
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reible

"Now for the part where everyone thinks I'm crazy. Tighten a #2 Phillips screw into metal as tight as you can with a Craftsman Screwdriver. A Snap on Screwdriver will take it right out. But if you use the Snap on to tighten the screw, the Craftsman wont budge it. Try it, you get what you pay for."

I'd be willing to risk a bet here..... of course you are talking the Craftsman professional line of black screwdrives that beat the "snap-on" ones in just such a test??????

Ed

Mike

Ok Ed. 5 cents cash money. Just to be fair about it, you bring a brand new Craftsman Professional #2 Phillips. Then match it with a 15 year old, well used Snap on out of my roller cabinet. To be fair, neither can have the patented/licensed ACR Phillip's tip, or both need to have it. That way we really will be comparing apples with apples.
Snap on is the company that invented sockets and revolutionized the way we work. They continually improve tools with patented differences like the fact that their sockets and box wrenches grab on the flats of a fastener as opposed to the corners like all others. Wider handles on adjustable wrenches to make them more comfortable to use is another example. Always top quality. Unsurpassed service. I use my tools every day. To me it's worth the difference.

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Mike
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pmspirito

I got hooked on McFeely's square drive screws a couple of years ago to the extent I threw out all of the screws I had in the shop from Home Depot and Lowes and use the McFeely's exclusively. I order on line and the order arrives within a couple of days. I have never broken a McFeely screw. I recently used a couple of hundred 3 inch stainless steel screws in building some front porch columns for our house in North Carolina that we are restoring.

Check them out at www.mcfeelys.com

reible

Ed

reible

Great place to shop and lots of good information on screws in the catalogs. In fact I have taken pages out and put them in my folders out in the shop for reference.

You know I have a large collection of screwdrivers, my wife thinks it's excessive, of size 0 and up I maybe have 75 or 80..... now this is not count bits etc. I still have my Marples flat blades from the old days..... I just about never part with a screwdriver, some get ground into other things or end up in the shed or what ever....

Ed

JamesEMc

Back before Christmas, I looked for Reed & Prince screwdrivers to use on the small brass screws that come with small hinges. Everywhere I went I just got blank stares. Home Despot, Lowes, Ace - I finally found a couple of #1 Phillips screwdrivers that worked well enough, but I did drill pilot holes first - little bitty ones.

If anyone knows a source for true R&P screwdrivers, I'd like to know it.

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