All for a screwdriver

[condeesteso]

I'll get this fine item finished (handles, oh boy!! - tricky) and use it to see how it stands up. Bearing in mind it's only on brass screws, and I did laboriously hand 'grind' the blade using a honing guide and medium wet&dry, so no heat build at all - and the blade is as thick as can be to still fit a no8 slot. The widely held view is hollow, accepted - but this took so long to do!!
Pedder reckons hollow, and I have seen his saws so could not possibly challenge that
Guarantee one thing - it will never open a paint can again, in my lifetime.

 

[condeesteso]

I know this thread has gone cold, but I started so I'll finish. First, the PH screwdriver now has scales - American walnut (scrap lying around). Tricky to fit really well, and this is the best side (like when you take a pic of the wife). The pins are 4mm brass rod, peined a little, but it's the epoxy that holds the scales on anyway.
The little gem below it was a gift from Jim, in return for some wood, but I am still in his debt.
For ages I have wanted one screwdriver that will do my no3 and 4 brass cabinet screws, which I use a lot. This is THE one.
Hand ground flat, about 6 degrees. Once happy with both faces, then light file tip to get it dead square and also a near push-fit into the slot of the screw-head.
I know the weight of opinion is hollow-ground, but the small angle shouldn't make much odds, and the last stage of filing the tip allows you to creep up on the dead right thickness. But I flat grind mainly because it looks better to ME.
I LOVE this little gem, it sits in the screwdriver rack at the back of the bench... looking cheeky, homely, happy. Call me mad, it's fine.

 

[jimi43]

Superb job you did there with the Perfect Pattern screwdriver Douglas.

Having done a couple, I can vouch for how difficult it is to get them "perfect" (s'cuse the pun!) and as you pointed out...you wanted to follow the rough casting so common on these tools...and you have done that in spades.

I find them very comfortable...unlike the general concensus....and mine all get used for flat head screws before most other patterns.

Little dumpy also looks much better now it has had it's refurbishment. Without getting into the flat/concave arguement again regarding fit...I think that for looks...the flat slope looks the best.

I am absolutely besotted by the gun turnscrew shape though...

...it is the transition from round...through the raised ring to the tapered square profile that is so elegant....

Great thread! (I'll get me coat! )

Jim

 

[condeesteso]

Yes, that Purdey-style is a real beauty - but 'dumpy' is a really great tool for those small screws and it will get inside drawers etc too.
The other side of the PH scales has a small gap at the top. I was concentrating on the pointed shape fit so much I missed that til it was too late. Like when you reverse the car, all going well then suddenly, the front wing takes a bollard out... oops.

 

[Benchwayze]

It's not the handle that bothers me so much as the 'spade'. The 'perfect' I have, has a wedge shaped spade and it does jump slots. So as Derek says, it is relegated to other duties.

I suppose I could hollow grind the 'spade', but I have enough good drivers anyway!

EDIT:

Another thought crossed my mind... For how much longer will we be able to find a use for trad screwdrivers? Sooner or later the screw-makers will move over to cross-head and square drive screws exclusively.

John

 

[pedder]

Another thought crossed my mind... For how much longer will we be able to find a use for trad screwdrivers? Sooner or later the screw-makers will move over to cross-head and square drive screws exclusively.

John

Hi John,

cross head were invented in 1933 and didn't supress the trade heads. I think they will stay wherever is aneed for a visible screw head. I often prescrew with a torx and us a trad head than.

Cheers
Pedder

 

[Benchwayze]

This is true Pedder.

I have a pump-action Yankee, that was 'issued' with two sets of bits; X-head and slotted, 40 years ago almost. (50 years ago in fact! :shock: ) However, I do notice fewer slotted screws for sale these days. Gone are the times when firms stocked all sizes, all types of head and in all types of 'drive'. Now, if you want slotted screws you have to seek them out in many stores. To be honest I am not fussed, except for nice furniture. Then I like brass slotted, and as you suggest, I usually drive in a steel screw first.

Where I worked in the 1960s, was not far from Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds, the Mecca for screw-making! (GKN of course)

If a screw design existed, they made it!

It's drives me screwy sometimes though. :roll:

Please excuse the weak joke! It's my age you see? (hammer)

Regards
John ccasion5:

 

[Racers]

Hi,

I thought screwdrivers should be ground so they didn't get to the bottom of the slot, fiting tightly at the top of the slot, so as not to dammage the screw. I read it on a watchmaking site somewhere, seemed to make sense to me.

I have loads of sloted screws both steel and brass for that authentic look.


Pete

 

[condeesteso]

Pete - I like the sound of that, I make my blades a slight interference fit, as the brass (screw) is softer than the steel. I can do that easily with a flat/taper grind, and so this whole approach is what I like. As for slot-head, they are readily available still and will remain so I believe. They look good when exposed etc. Actually, try finding a pure brass cross-head. I know cross-heads are technically v good but they look horrible to me. And as long as I am screwing into hardwoods, with screws that may be exposed (even inside a carcase) then I will stick with solid brass, cross-head. Stubborn I am, yes.
By the way, slot-head and appearance. I have a small number of Lie N planes, and every time I got one I noticed that EVEN the screws that hold down the knob and tote have their slots aligned to the sole, either along or at 90 degrees. Is it not the small things that we notice that make a difference? Tom LN... respect!

 

[condeesteso]

time to reactivate this thread... Jim keeps finding me ever smaller screwdrivers. Here's the latest below, all tuned up now and looking good. Richard's holdfasts in there working brilliantly.

 

[AndyT]

Well, Douglas, I for one think that all this care is worth it.

I will sneak in a confession at the end of this thread and say that I only recently discovered just how much better wooden handled screwdrivers are!

I remember thinking my Dad's were very old fashioned and nothing like as good as the slippery plastic stuff I had bought for myself with my pocket money. Now forty years later I find myself reaching for one of a small selection of proper cabinet handled drivers whenever the screw has a slot in it. They are just so comfortable!

I think I might have to do some surgery and put proper handles onto the cross-point shafts of some of the plastic nasties.

 

[Paul Chapman]

I think I might have to do some surgery and put proper handles onto the cross-point shafts of some of the plastic nasties.

Or make yourself some wooden handled ones that will take all types of bits

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[condeesteso]

very nice indeed Paul - excellent handle profile to hold, and they look fab too Andy, I'm about the same, only really got onto traditional wooden handle ones a couple of years ago. Main thing I found straight away was how well they fit the T-slot.

 

[AndyT]

Thanks Paul - that's a really nice idea I had forgotten about. I must get round to one or two of those.

 

[Harbo]

Axminster sell the metal bits.

Rod

 

[Scouse]

By the way, slot-head and appearance. I have a small number of Lie N planes, and every time I got one I noticed that EVEN the screws that hold down the knob and tote have their slots aligned to the sole, either along or at 90 degrees.

Haha! I hadn't noticed that but same here!

Generally these two are my turnscrews of choice, both recent additions, but so much more tactile and nicer to use than my modern plastic handled Wera set.

but on the subject of ever smaller screwdrivers, a recent car boot (where else?) find has proved useful, a tiny Yankee USA 2H ratchet. It's been stripped and rebuilt, so it was a bit rougher when I got it, cute though. I'd never seen one before.

Funny how something as seemingly simple as a screwdriver creates an emotional response in it's use.

El.

 

[Paul Chapman]

a tiny Yankee USA 2H ratchet.

Ah, must try to get one of those for the collection :lol:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Scouse]

That's a nice selection of tools, I've become a fan of old Yankees in recent months.

I'm in the process of renovating a pre-Stanley North Brothers 130A which is steadfastly refusing to come apart at the handle end!

 

[condeesteso]

Scouse / El... that tiny ratchet. I like that**!! And the hardware to make nice insert drivers too. The handle profile - very like the LN countersink I have, but is that an old English design? it does work well, have one on a spalted holly awl I re-did. It's a favourite.

(** it's OK, Jim'll fix it for me :lol: )

 

[Paul Chapman]

That's a nice selection of tools, I've become a fan of old Yankees in recent months.

I've found that now most people use battery-operated drill/drivers, you can pick up old Stanley Yankees very cheaply - many of them in good condition. New ones are now very expensive and not made as well as the old ones.

Cheers :wink:

Paul