Screw Drivers for Saw Nuts and Plane Work

[Stew Denton]

Hi all,

If you have done any restoring of planes or saws, etc., you have probably run into the slots on machine screws, saw nuts, etc., that have been messed up by a previous owner. I do what I can to spruce them up, use a small ball peen hammer, try to help the slots, etc., but my results are sometimes pretty iffy.

When it comes time to reassemble the tool, however, I run into the same problem the owner who originally messed up the slots ran into, not having a screw driver that will fit the slots well. I am extremely careful in using whatever screwdriver I have that best fits the slots so as not to undo my fix, but it still is not a good deal. As most of you know these are an odd duck size.

I just thought, I do have a small set of gun smithing screwdrivers, the kind with replaceable bits, that I might dig out, but I am not too optimistic about any of them fitting the machine screws I am thinking of.

I have thought about buying some garage sale screwdrivers and working the tips over with my little MAPPS type torch, files, a grinder at work, etc., to make ones that are a better fit. I think I could eventually redo the screwdrivers so they were a greatly improved fit.

I'm not George, though, and unlike him, my metal work is less than pretty. I've done some of this sort of thing with old screwdrivers, made scrapers for painting, etc., but nothing great. With some guys like George and others this sort of work is a piece of cake because of experience, with others it's trial and error, but with me it is more like error and trial. I may still end up doing exactly this, but.....

Is there a better way, at least one that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

Stew

[george wilson]

Modifying a screw driver into a forked screw driver is not that difficult. Most screw drivers seem to be soft enough that you can file out the middle. But,NOT those interchangeable ones you mention. Those are usually quite hard. Just get a large,old hardware store screwdriver and file it out. You might put a cutoff wheel in your bench grinder and grind away the center of the blade.

[Stew Denton]

Hi George,

Thanks for the pointer. I hadn't though about going after an old screwdriver with a file, thinking I would have to soften the driver first, but I do know that you know what you are talking about.

One of the problems is that the machine screw heads to so many of these are a lot wider than most screw drivers, but I do see big old screw drivers from time to time, most of which look like they were mostly used to open paint cans.....and the shanks are often pretty long.

I was thinking about cutting the shank off shorter, getting them hot and flattening the tip out fairly wide, working them over with grinder, Dremel or Rotozip, and files to get them the right width, thickness, hollow grind them, and then re-hardening them after they fit OK.

From what you are saying I can likely skip the softening step on some of the older cheaper screw drivers if the length isn't too awful.

Do I need to worry very much about the width of the screw driver tip being narrower than the machine screw head, or just try to continue to be very careful with them like I do now? A lot of the time putting things back together is less of a problem than getting them apart in the first place.

Fortunately I don't have many of the spit nut saws.....I have avoided working on those, but your suggestion is an easy fix for that problem.

Stew

[lowell holmes]

Try the following links.

https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/blog/14/Split%20Nut%20Screwdriver

Blackburn Tools and Lie Nielsen also have split screwdrivers.

[Derek Cohen]

I made this one out of a spade bit ..

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Restoration/Nurse%20dovetail%20saw/splitnut-driver_zpsad5urw15.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[george wilson]

It is always the best idea to make the screwdriver the same width as the head. To do that,you probably WILL have to heat up the head and hammer it out wider. However,that will,of course,make the blade thinner. Not having the blade fit the slot and the width of the head is an open invitation to bruise and distort the soft brass screw heads.

We used to make a forked screw driver out of any flat piece of tool steel laying about,1/8" thick is fine. But then,you do have to harden and temper it. You'd be shocked about how crudely thrown together some of our forked screw drivers were!! But,they fit the slot and the screw head widths.

[Kees Heiden]

Ugly, but it works. It does take a steady hand.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HxYCuJwTuJk/Un5Rftt0COI/AAAAAAAABJU/XFmneBe3hCw/s1600/IMG_1005.JPG

[Hilton Ralphs]

You can get this from TFWF.

343882

$10 though.

[Mike Holbrook]

Lee Valley makes a Plane Screwdriver for removing the oddly shaped screw heads on plane irons. The devise looks more like a door knob than a screwdriver, but I suspect it works well on those odd screw heads.

[Derek Cohen]

One of my favourite screwdrivers is this one for chipbreakers made from an old turnscrew ...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Screwdrivers/Screwdriver1_zps359cfccc.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[William Adams]

Yeah, the toolchest which I just bought seems to have a bunch of old bits for a brace ground down to use as largish screwdrivers --- need to check and see if they fit the #27 Stanley which was also in the box.

[Stew Denton]

Hi All,

Thank you all for the comments and suggestions.

I used an ordinary screwdriver to put a saw handle back on the blade on Friday or Saturday, and it was a pain, I had to be darned careful, and even then I thought I had fouled up once or twice. I hadn't but came close.

George, you said what I have kind of thought. I have about decided to make some custom screwdrivers that will actually fit the slots on my saws. The bad thing is that over the years some nuts must have been changed on individual saws as nuts were messed up or lost, and replaced with a different one, as some have nuts with different slot sizes, some differing significantly, so I will probably need at least 4 or 5.

Again, thanks for the usefull comments.

Thanks and regards,

Stew

[john zulu]

I have a set from Wiha. It is a great set. The width and thickness of the bits match the screws of handplanes well enough. Sometimes the screws are so unique it is better to grind a driver to the shape.
http://www.wihatools.com/bits/bit-sets/slotted-phillips-torxr-bit-selector-set

[Chris Parks]

These drivers have a very wide blade and could be custom ground....

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=dzus+fastener+driver&client=opera&hs=apC&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjymO2P7pzPAhWEtpQKHax1D_kQsAQIHA&biw=1093&bih=534

They for Dzus quick release fasteners.