Oh, what have I done?

[Richard Gillespie]

I’ve hated slotted screws ever since I started woodworking. They were an inferior, primitive design so far as I was concerned. Every time I tried to work with them the screwdriver would cam out and I’d usually tear up the adjacent wood.

I inherited my father’s tools and collection of hardware. Included in that were pounds of slotted screws. Those screws are now in the local landfill.

Last week, I bought on Ebay, a 1986 edition of Fine Woodworking’s “on Hand Tools”. The last reprint date on it is August 1996. In it is an article by Michael Podmaniczky on Sharpening Screwdrivers. As is intimated in the article, the problem with slotted screws is the taper put on the modern, slotted screwdriver. That taper on the blade causes the cam out problem with the screw. The proper way to use slotted screws is with a round shaft screwdriver, bevel ground to exactly fit into the screw in both length and width. That means you should have a set of screwdrivers ground to match all the screws you use. Light bulbs started going off in my head as I read that article.

I’ve seen some examples of round shaft, slotted screw drivers beveled ground as the article describes and thought that they were rather curious looking. Now I know they are the correct style and everything else is wrong. To think, some future archeologist will dig up that large clump of slotted screws and wonder why they were thrown out.

I look forward to correctly grinding a or a set of screw drivers to see how much of an improvement I get.

[Pam Niedermayer]

In Jim Kingshott's book, "Making & Modifying Woodworking Tools," he explains all this, shows some photos, very cool.

Pam

[James Carmichael]

Yep, slotted screws suffer from those hideous wedge screwdrivers and the fact that there are so many non-standard slot sizes. When I used to do my own gunsmithing, I used drill rod or cheap wooden-handled screw drivers and filed them flat, custom-fit to the screw heads.

[David Rose]

Are magnets OK on this side of the Creek? :D There are several quality magnet tipped screw drivers and sets of hollow ground bits to cover most needs. I can order probably 100 different bits (different thicknesses and widths) from a gunsmithing supplier. I use most of them in that trade, but often migrate a few to the wood shop. :rolleyes: Quality bits are important as there are many hollow ground bits that will quick become rounded on the edges which puts you back into the "wedge bit business".

David

[James Carmichael]

Sharpening/filing screwdrivers is a handy skill to know. When installing a programmable thermostat a few months back, I found the screws for the electrical contacts had tiny slotted heads and must have been torqued in by a gorilla. The only screwdriver I could find that fit was in a little eyeglass repair kit, but the handle was too small to get enough torque to loosen them, so I pulled out my range kit and found an old gunsmith's screwdriver with a large wood handle that was close to the right size and filed down the flats until it fit.

The wedge-blade screwdriver is an evil invention suited only for mangling screws and prying the lids off of paint cans.