Help! Searching for screw driver bit with foreskin!

[Jim Mackell]

I volunteer at a local museum and we use common slotted screws by the 100's (cuz they are curatorially correct for the era), To make the task more manageable I use a hand brace with a slotted driver bit. The bit has what I call a spring loaded foreskin which helps hold the screw in position for the first few turns. The bit is at least 20 years old. Unfortunately, our last bit - bit the dust :( and snapped.

I can find online bits that will drive slotted screws but I cannot find any that have the spring loaded foreskin. Does anyone here know where they might be found? Or perhaps has one they would like to sell?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Well, there's these:

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=41011&cat=1,43411,43417&ap=2

Which take a normal hex shank bit inside.

[Todd Burch]

I used a tool like this back when I repaired computers for a living. It was called a screw starter. (my buddies called it a "kiss", for short...)

There was a sleeve around the split tip, and you would press the top of the tool, like clicking an ink pen. This would cause the internal piece to move down and close the split top. Then, with the tip in the screw slot, you would apply pressure on the outer sleeve, towards the tip, causing the internal piece to go back up in the sleeve, and while retracting, the split tip would spread and hold the screw. Still have mine, in two sizes. I'd never part with them.

Here's a similar one @ grainger: http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/KLEIN-TOOLS-Screw-Starter-2DHB7?Pid=search

[Todd Burch]

Here's a picture of what you might be looking for (or similar):

http://www.wkfinetools.com/hUS-borTools/NorthBros/inPress/1908-HardwareDealersMagazine/1908YankeeScrewDrivers-HardwareDealersMG.asp

[Jim Koepke]

Finding one for a brace is going to be difficult.

The first step in searching is to make sure you are calling it by its correct name.

Of the many screw starters in my collection there are slip tube type, spring twist and spring loaded jaws.

Maybe a picture of the item for which you are searching would help.

You may have to settle for a different type that can be adapted to a brace.

jtk

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

If it's a brace with a more modern chuck (by modern, I simply mean something with moveable jaws, not the wing-nut spofford type) anything with a hex bit will probably work fine, at least they do in the three braces I own. the one thing to watch out for is that the hex end is actually a hex end, and not a round with three flats ground on it (I've seen this on some holesaw shanks lately) With a hex bit, two opposite corners of the hex fit into the opposite notches of a two jaw chuck. With a round with three flats on it, you're out of luck without a three-jaw chuck, it won't center in a two-jaw chuck.

[ray hampton]

the screw starting screw driver used to be call a electric screw driver since they was the major user

[Steven Satur]

Go to Home Depot. In the Electrical Dept. Hand tool section Greenlee makes them.

Steve

[Jim Mackell]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll check them out.

[Jim Matthews]

I can only imagine the looks across the counter, at my local hardware store.

I guess it's better than "That screwing thingy with a turtleneck..."
What happens if you use it too much, or it starts thinking of that box of square drive #2s in Cozumel during Spring Break, senior year?

[Bernadette Semilla]

I'm sorry, I'd like to help. Honest. But I had never heard of these screw-holders before and the topic is just making me laugh so hard. I'm glad the more mature members could help you though.

[Johnny Kleso]

Sear's sold screw starter screwdrivers, think they still do.
Buy one and cut the handle off with abrasive cut off wheel or the corner of a grinding wheel..
Forgot to add, You just need a hex shaft screwdriver

[ray hampton]

Sear's sold screw starter screwdrivers, think they still do.
Buy one and cut the handle off with abrasive cut off wheel or the corner of a grinding wheel..
Forgot to add, You just need a hex shaft screwdriver


there is one thing that you need to remember which is " do not apply too much force to the driver, they are for starting the screw in the hole, apply too much torque and it will be a cockscrew

[Jim Mackell]

This is what I have been attempting to describe. Now with 1/4 power drive shaft. If you need to drive large numbers of slotted (common) screws, these bits are a godsend. Chuck one in your power driver or old fashioned brace and away you go. Use care because you can develop so much torque that it's very easy to snap the heads off.

Screwdriver bits with a foreskin!

http://apexbits.com/r-320x-apex-1-4-slotted-hex-power-drive-bits-with-finder-sleeve.aspx