Have you ever used a Prince Reed screwdriver?

you do good work in these videos. subscribed. thanks for not being AI.

Please check the link below for the Center Finding rulers, when I click on the link I get a web page cannot be found error. Just FYI.

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You do a good job . I too hate the Phillips head but what were my choices as an American a flat head. Uhhh. Then I started buying kits that included square head Robertson about time something that works. Canada ya got it right aye.

Hey, I’m a believer.

Well, Mike Nesmith's mother did invent liquid paper. So it's not that far fetched.

I'm in the "star drive" for the space age camp. (Ie. Torx by another name)

​@pariahzero It's difficult to find dilithium crystals to power the special driver though...

🤣🤣🤣

Slot/flathead is better than philips. Philips will be dead one day, needing specialized custom-made tools for old stuff to take apart. You know what will never be dead? _A thin bar._ Flathead has historical compatibility. Philips is just bad.

Correction: the "accidental" cam out. Retroactively claimed to be a "feature".

@@Volvith Flathead (slot) is an early evolutionary step that is deservedly near extinct.

Hah! Well said.

@@Volvith No one makes slotted screws in the same volume as Philips nor Square (or even Torx) today. So no, slotted isn't going to suddenly come back.

100% long live the Robertson!

Philips are only really widely used in drywalling.

I can say confidently that if you're Canadian, you are certifiably insane. How's that Trudeau thing going for ya?

🎶 Torque Like an Egyptian🎶

It was delivered with such authority. With alien tech there was of course no need.

@@Dowlphin stop watching little girls cartoons man. Now I know why people need pushed around.

and so are the days of our lives

Many of us Americans understand that Robertsons are superior, or at least that Phillips screws are the absolute worst kind of screw ever invented. But Robertsons can't become my screw of choice when none of the stores here have any of them for sale. For me I've just converted to torx, since I can get those and like Robertsons they also don't cam out.

@@hairpig I'm about a week away from retirement. Maybe I'll supplement my pension by smuggling Robertson drivers, screws and bolts into the US.

Well, screw you ​@@hairpig

I have no experience with "Fitzbobs" whatsoever, but I can imagine the next guy cursing him to high hell for using them, because unless they are popular there by then, they'll probably have no equipment to deal with those screws.

In the building of ANY furniture that requires screws, I exclusively use torx head screws. They just work better and faster. Once or twice, I've used Robertson heads. I won't lie, if they were more readily available in my area, I'd probably switch to them.

Far cheaper to use Robertson with principally the same result. There might be a completely different reason for someone to use a torx. .

I find Torx driver bits break easily. They can't take the torque I guess.

@@Rancid-Jane thats the point, the tool breaks instead of the fixing

@@Rancid-Jane If the bit breaks you can just toss it and grab another from the 10 pack you bought for 5 dollars. If the fastener strips you're likely spending 30 minutes trying to find vise grips or a drill and ez out to get it out

I was wondering why pozidrive hadn't been mentioned. because that's my big hate. By a set of bits, and it includes a few of each, looking almost identical, and leaving one to wonder which to use when confronted by a head which might be phillips. Or might be pozidrive. I then have to try a few until one seems to grip best. Is this only suffered in Britain? I like Robertson screws, though, of which I have a few, but phillips are far more common, and to a lesser extent but increasingly, allen and torx.

@@ColinElliott-nx4rk You can like look at screw, and look at screwdriver. It's obvious which fits which.

@@raghardeishi972 Yes many DIY people are confused between Philips and Posidrive. Of course Posi have an X stamped on the head . Some manufacturers have created a Slot/Philips hybrid which are useless. Of course an impact driver will bash them in.

Pozidrive is essentially an improved Phillips allowing for more torque and reduced tendency to cam out.

@@raghardeishi972 You an see which is which if you know what to look for, but if you have to explicitly look for the difference I wouldn't call that obvious.

you can snap off the head on a robertson screw so i don't think you need more torque handling.

@@ronblack7870 never happened to me once in over 55 years of using them. Also, after a Philips head strips out, try to remove it!

I'm a American and still like the Robertson or Square Head screws. Though Reed and Prince isn't all that bad.

@@ronblack7870you do when dealing with small screws but still need higher holding power of said screw. Torx shines with tiny screws (and yes, better than robertson or allen)

​@@ronblack7870 Yeah exactly. Torx is just the name; it does not mean it's the best for torque. I mean think about it, technically the more points something has, the closer it is to a circle. And hint, a circle is the worst geometry for a screw head haha

i switched to torx screws a long time ago. the square drive ones still are prone to stripping out

@@Thrunabulax10 Haha and torx don't? Maybe if there werent 20 sizes of torx and we didnt already have robertson but sadly nope.

@@Thrunabulax10 Torx is significantly more prone to stripping.

@@svn5994 I've driven thousands of unpilot holed 3.5in Torx, including building a 400sqft deck... never seen one strip. Ever. And that was while using an M18 impact on the most aggressive setting which commonly strips or snaps the heads off phillips drywall screws. I have seen 300 series stainless Robbies strip out and I have seen old Robbies driven by someone else which were on the verge of stripping after decades of corrosion, but a few taps with a hammer on the driver seated it deep enough to turn it out. Torque ratings on Torx are about 150% of Robbies or Phillips across the board, so you're either using some incredibly inferior version of Torx/Star, somehow screwing up driving them, or making stuff up. Robbies also have a penchant for sticking on the bit after getting the impact treatment, much more so than Torx or Philips. This can be a feature when using non-ferrous screws to keep them on your bit as you start the drive, but in most applications it's kind of annoying as the Robbie will sometimes steal your bit if your bit holder is getting loose.

​@@A_Person_You_Dont_KnowTorx is best because only the right size will fit.

For that reason alone, I like my European car. No fumbling under a car figuring out fractions of an inch

@@140288albert so you would rather fumble around with millimeters, ok then,,,

very likely, as robertson bits were few and far between at that time, I had a few sets, but they were all cheap junk and would twist off, round/cam out if there was any torque required. then again, I could snap off flat heads, both the screws and screw drivers by hand, often phillips heads too. when using an impact or drill-driver, when you hit hard material, they ALL will shear off the fastener just below the head with enough power holding the bit in place. been there done that for 25+ years, when I had only hand tools. yeah I have a very strong grip

@@throttlebottle5906stop tugging on your member so much.

Strange, because three sizes of Robertson bits come in almost every driver bit set.

Absolutely true

I do the same with every wall anchor kit coming with any purchased object: throw away the anchors and Phillips screws, and use my own Robertson screws.

I should start doing this, but with Allen (hex) screws rather than Robertson. I'm British, and 'Allen keys' are more common than anything else except Phillips.

You should have collected the Phillips screws and resold them in the USA for a neat little profit.

@@jcalpha2717 Don't you dare!

I'll often use a Robertson screwdriver on un-cammed out Philips screws/bolts.

I've tested this fact many times and while true, it is almost never "fun"

@@scottshannon3654 But it is fun, it means every phillips screw is actually a robertson screw in disguise. Just gotta strip em first.

"I had a beater" robrtson driver, I would put into my phillip, give it a Bash, and whala ready for another try. Electricians have a version of roberston with wings like a flat screw driver with a roberston diamon in the center, works very well. Do not want slips, tools un controlled, and bashing around in a hot pannel

#3 Phillips screws also fit #2 Robertson drive tips. Edit for clarity.

I'm an American homebuilder, and I freaking hate Philips head screws. If you've got a quality screwdriver (🪛), they're fine, I guess, for little things, but for drills/Impact drivers, absolutely the worst.

Cargo trailers in America are screwed together with Robertson screws..

Travel trailers use a combination, square works best but a large Philips will do too.

Torx beats them both.

@@chuckschillingvideos I like Torx, but in my experience it's harder (ie slower) to fit into the screw vs Robinson. Also I think Robinson are cheaper

Canadian screws better for lumber? There's gotta be a Lumberjack joke in there somewhere...

Why didn't they just ask your buddy to ship them Robertson drivers instead of all that rigmarole?!?

@@trollking99 We never understood why they didn't called in or mailed a request for a solution. They simply shipped the boxes back without warning. I'm sure there was some store at Platsburg where they could have find Robertson screwdrivers.

@@irolaan292 Perhaps they wanted to prove some useless point. And why not just pry open the boxes? Anyway, your buddy made the right call to cancel their order LOL

@@trollking99 Because they are pompous asses. Or just plain stupid.

All you need to do is insert a flathead at an angle if you don't have a robertson lmao, even a posidrive jammed in can work. Idk if i'd trust any product from anywhere that couldn't figure out how to remove a screw without the proper bit lol

Same here, I've never seen Robertson head in my life. But I was surprised that there was no mention of pozidriv. That's been the only choice for woodworking screws until recently.

This. Torx is vastly superior to Robertson. They're easier to fit to the bit due to having six correct orientations, but the real advantage is the large rounded contact patch allowing much higher torque - some torx heads are rated at 2,000 nm - the #4 Robertson head is rated for just 8 nm! It's not even close... and while you wouldn't need that much strength in a wood screw, having so much headroom translates to a driver bit that literally never wears out. I've never replaced a torx bit in my life, other than when they were lost.

@@abhibeckert If torx sizing made any sense, and if they weren't specifically designed to require you to buy more tools all the time, then MAYBE. But torx are arbitrary sizes, arbitrary in number of points, and randomly have security holes in the middle that are intentionally designed to screw with you. I have never taken anything off with torx and thought "oh, this was meant to be user serviceable"

@@malimbar2 Torx is not arbitrary, it's based off inbus head (metric Allen) - in fact, you can use Torx to loosen rounded inbus head (although it can damage the bit, if too much torque is applied). And how its sizing doesn't make any sense? Higher number=bigger head, it's not any worse than Philips sizing Electronics manufacturers putting safety Torx on everything is another thing, but atleast it's somewhat common compared to tri-wong and other proprietary heads

@@abhibeckert I agree, but please give me a source for torx screws in small sizes (2-56, 4-40, 6-32 with several lengths for each size. Metric m2, m3, m4 would be acceptable). And small (100 or so) quantities. Here in the US it's the same problem with finding a decent source for square, Robertson or internal hex drives screws.

More companies ought to give you the tools to work on your stuff! *said while staring angrily at a box of proprietary tools that I've had to make*

Many of the companies I work at have been the same. Then there was the time the new guy put the toolbox in place and no one had told him about the Phillips screws....

Correction, that so called phillips is just a improperly made Robertson, you just need to find the right size robbie for the job, and maybe a hammer to help correct the deformation

@@n3m37h Works really good on stainless fasteners!

Robertson is 10 times the better socket design for turn fasteners . Phillips is only as good as the very first cut into the screw head , it tapers down to a point to where it can strip easier and easier after use . Face it , some US screw maker won't accept the fact that Robertson is even better than torx , Phillips and possibly a slot screw design .

They are the best. You should get some Robertsons.

I buy Robertson decking screws in tubs of 1500 and use several each season. Thank goodness for Robertson screws and lithium impact drivers.❤

As a Canadian who moved to the U.K. I miss Robertson

Living in Canada, its the screw of choice. Phillips have the disadvantages mentioned. Robertson by far used here.

Common in pocket screws

That's one of my favorite things about square drive! Plus, not that I've had to do this, is the fact that you can make you own bit *from scratch* if need be, with just a grinder or file. Can't do that to replace your stripped Phillips driver!

@@goxilo Well, if you have a steady hand, a good eye, and a dremel, you can really make any driver by hand if you need to. I have a long running habit of making oddball screwdrivers out of nails and pieces of scrapwood. I think last time it was a 6 pointed star security driver. I could have ordered a cheap chinesium driver and waited a few days for it to come, but I didn't want to wait. I could have just drilled the screw out but didn't want to risk the damage from flakes of metal getting into sensitive places.

I do this with Torx also. Zing it on the belt sander for 2 seconds while spinning your drill, and back to getting stuff done.

Tell him to buy the Robertson bits with carbide inserts. They take ages to wear out. TASK makes and sells them in Home Depot Canada.

If you're not using maple syrup (#3 dark of course) as caulking you're building it wrong anyway.

Does that work in July? There’s plenty of ice but the screws don’t freeze quite as solid.

@@dsigetich Yup, that's an issue in the summer! 🤣

@@CADRollHunter Trick from mechanical assembly (bearings and stuff), I summer use a freezer to pre cool them(liquid nitrogen might overdo it), in winter a deep fryer to pre heat them. Maybe cover in batter first, deep-fried ice cubes are a treat!

The same crappy manufacturing tolerances also happens on Philipps heads. The screwdriver is a #3 but the bit os so "sharp" that it fits on #1 screws. Or the screw hole isn't deep enough and you have to file off the tip of your screwdriver. If you get good quality drivers and screws, you get good fit, no matter the type. Get a bunch of screws and drivers from flea markets you'll have problems. And as a Canadian, I'm proud of that Canadian invention and that's all I'm looking for. And as an electrican, that's all I work with!

And the cheap Chinese shit now days with the screws that aren't a #2 but no where close to a #3. And they strip pretty easy.

I remember having such problems when using a drill. Then I bought quality bits from a well know Canadian hand tools supplier and haven't had much problems since. Except for the occasional screw stuck to the bit after removal. In any case, proper bits helped a lot with the other issues.

Agree. The problem with all US 'square' drivers is that the drivers are not properly tapered. Order a set of proper Robertson drivers from Canada. You won't be sorry.

Wasn't there robertson and there was square drive. I think one was a tapered socket the other straight walled socket? Same was for Phillips and Posi-drive.. very often cheap poor quality screws and Hardware was used on the flat pack stuff like the IKEA copy cat..

Did you mean Robertson?

Robertson all the way!

big fan of the square. the cross sucks.

Amen, brother! As a fellow American, I stand proudly by my workshop hardware bins full of Robertson screws. We Americans may have done a lot of innovative things first, but the rest of the world does a better job of learning from our mistakes and improving upon them, while we stubbornly clutch the old ways as somehow sacred.

Torx > Roberston

I can’t find a color-coded Robertson set in US retailers. Everything is instead color-coded according to brand.

@@spencerjoplin2885 harbor freight

It's so logical its almost.... metric

@@ad905 Now, imagine if SAE had decimals instead of janky fractions

@@InfernosReaper fractions are only janky if you lack the intellect to use them..

Having a shop standard is the dream! I use pockethole joinery in the cabinetry I make, and I was pretty stoked to find milescraft makes Torx t20 pockethole screws. T20 everything!

@@leestuurmans2837 Yeah, but sometimes you need two hands to guide the Torx screw into the pocket. Not so with the Robertson.

square suck.

Shame on Kreg for making this terrible screw design more popular. Their screws strip very easily and the bit gets stuck in the screw constantly. It's the worst screw design ever made, much worse than Phillips.

@@coolbugfacts1234

they have their place, the others all require the driver to be straight on or it won't stay on the head when you turn, but a flat head can turn it at an angle. unfortunately, the head always slips off the slot left or right as you turn it too which pretty much negates that one advantage 😂

Let's not even start on Allen Keys.

the only advantage of slotted screws is that they are the one screw that can be easily removed using makeshift tools such as a butter knife.

@@islandwills2778 There is one other advantage - slotted screws make the best "ting" sound as you toss them in the garbage can in a fit of rage.

Slotted screws are great, if you only plan on rotating a screw at one rotation per 5 seconds, and never tight enough to accomplish anything. Great for Grandpa's wasting time in the shed to avoid the wife and kids.

It only took us a century to figure it out. Progress!

Phillips is good for collated screw guns, which is why it will never stop being the drywall screw of choice. Phillips will also likely never be replaced in manufacturing. It works really well with auto feeding screw drivers on production lines, especially with really small screws. Here in NZ we are big on square drive in the construction industry, but torx is slowly gaining momentum, mainly with higher quality speciality screws. Phillips is ever present.

Most of the screws that come with hinges, towel racks, etc, are almost worthless. They may work in a pinch, if nothing else is available, but I usually toss them for something longer and better quality.

Interesting, here in Europe they are only at most about 20% more expensive than pozi, well worth it though...

@@Patrick-857 A bunch of computers and tiny electronics do use torx screws. Some of the ones in mobile phones are absolutely tiny, yet still torx and automatically driven. Phillips is cheaper, true.

@wombatillo One thing I hate is torx in European cars. They use that and a bunch of really weird ones. The problem is that torx can handle the specified tightening torque at the factory, but not the required breakaway torque for the poor bugger that has to repair the thing. Another example of European cars aren't built to be repaired.

Every couple weeks I get a talking to at work because I have a pile of unused Phillips head screws that come free from vendors. I buy Torx screws separately to use. Robertson screws started to become popular with carpenters in America until they discovered Torx. Square drives are still common with electrical equipment. If you walk through the fastener aisle of a hardware store, it's still mostly Phillips, but I'm convinced that no one actually buys them, they've just been there for years.

@@rightwingsafetysquad9872 definitely more a fan of torx than 'square' - maybe it's just poor quality bits & screws we get here but trying to drive in a square at anything short of near perfectly perpendicular with the driving bit and it spits it out faster than my kids with brussel sprouts.

And every homeowner and future homeowner of those properties cursed your name and your ancestors when they had to drive to the store and buy the bit to remove them 25 years down the road when it needed to be replaced.

@@alexd9784 Cursed for 20 minutes, then blessed for years when they learned how much better square is than Phillips. Then maybe ignored because Torx is even better.

@@alexd9784call me what you want but don’t call me late for dinner

Ditto. Great puns and humor and had fun with the story.

@@earlyriser8998 agreed. His humor is on point. I'll never forget that "cam-outs" actually serve a purpose.

@@Simonfrios ....and what "purpose" is that? Typically, material gets damaged when this occurs ....or someone might get hurt .....so what's the purpose of a cam-out .....more properly known as a screwdriver slip. .

@@taxicamel did you watch the video? Cam out to stop a screw from breaking by over-torquing. it's hard to think of a use-case for that, but sounds like it could serve a purpose

​@@Simonfrios Yea, and the part he leaves out or doesn't know is that the "cam out" feature of a Phillips screw was intentionally designed into it, it wasn't an "accident", the very purpose is so that there's screws that can be used on a mass production line without snapping off head's or stripping threads, it's all covered in the language of the patent and is not an accident due to a bad design that just happened to find a home. If industry loved it for it's mass production qualities then ok, so why does America get demonized for that? Another thing not covered in this highly educational video is that there's more than one type of cross tip screwdriver and fastener, and guess what? The aircraft industry doesn't use Phillips, it didn't during WW2 and hasn't since, neither does Japan and that's why the screw head's on all the cross tip fasteners on Japanese motorcycle's and the Keihin carbs on Harley's strip out when you try using regular Phillips screwdrivers on them, they're ground entirely different and a Phillips screwdriver only contacts a tiny bit of the cross cuts in the screw head, Japanese vehicles use JIS (Japanese Industry Standard) cross tip fasteners, they're easily identified by a punch mark dot on the dome of the screw head, all people have to do is just order a set of JIS screwdrivers online and then they can quit blaming America for the fact that they're using the wrong tool for something. And when it comes to aircraft you have to watch, everything from screwdrivers being ground different to different thread pitches on fasteners can easily get people in trouble who don't know what they're doing but think they do, nuts and bolts on aircraft use thread pitches you won't find in a tap and die set you buy at the auto parts store, even tool dealers like Snap-On have to special order the stuff unless they're one that services the aviation industry, even the octane rating for Avgas is measured using a different scale than what automotive pump gas is, that's why I roll my eyes and bite my tongue every time I'm around some screwball who swears up and down about how much better his bike runs on the 98 octane gas his cousin who works at the airport hooks him up with, measured the same way pump gas is measured it's actually right around 93 which you can get at any gas station below 5,000 ft elevation and is a lot cheaper than Avgas, which because it has anti boiling agents and other necessary chemicals in the event it's put in an aircraft with a supercharged engine that can fly at high altitude those chemicals are actually detrimental to what they're trying to do at relative sea level on the pavement anyway, but these are guy's that believe octane is a chemical in gas that the more of it you have the faster you'll go, and I learned a long time ago not to try telling them different, they're the same guys who think all the Japanese screws are junk because they all strip. Another industry that has people stripping screws that don't know what they're doing is firearms, that's why even your best Snap-On screwdrivers strip the slots on screws in guns, and even then the industry itself isn't standardized, there's different screwdriver sets for Winchester's, Remington's, Colts and just about every firearm you can name, that's because they've been in business long before anything was standardized and all developed their own fasteners. The moral of the story is use the right tool for the job and quit blaming your shortcomings on America.

While square screwheads are rare in Europe, it is not difficult to buy a square bit.

Weird, because I can easily find square drive in other European countries, like Portugal and Germany. It would have taken minutes to go out and get a Wera or Wiha square drive which I'm sure are readily available in the Netherlands.

I'm an European who never has seen a Robertson screw. Though I have a bits set including square bits. Until now never understood what they are for.

@@Mike40M Ditto. I've come across triangular heads, argh.

The Dutch could have taken a regular screw driver.Cut the end off. Went to a grinder and ground it square

Compared to Phillips, almost anything (except flathead) works better with power tools. Never seen a Robertson screw here in Europe, and the most common screw used to be Pozidrive (a more grippy Phillips variant), but I noticed at some point the DYI stores one by one switched their store brand screws from Pozidrive to Torx.

@@kaasmeester5903 Square (not Robertson) is quite popular for example in ikea furniture. Torx is no doubt the superior option.

I worked for a Canadian company that exported all over the world and we used Robertson screws. The standing joke was especially in the middle east was to bring a lot of extra Robertson screw drivers and screws with you because they would all disappear because the locals liked them far better than the alternatives.

Ding Ding Ding.. I only see Torx in the US.. Them weirdos to the north still using squares.. Guess South park got them right lol..

​@@FJB2020 People use them in NZ if they're doing high-end construction work and don't care about the cost of the screws

The best thing about Torx screws is when your screw is a T20 and your bit is a T25

@@cottrelr That's why you get a bit kit that has like five or six of each. 😅

And Spax T-Star is the answer to torx ;-)

Yes! I was laughing quite a bit through this video! He was in fine form! Healthy dose of sarcasm too.

So many, chefs kiss! Informative history, with little nuggets of humor that only is limited to the amount that you pay attention. Keep this type of content flowing, love it.

Got plenty of Phillips that have never been stripped or dull. Mainly I only use them for hose clamps on certain vehicles.

The old Philips are equally good. The post-60's Philips are generally poor, as you say. The modern Robertson fares better when being made overseas with low grade steels and poor quality control.

I have some Phillips that have stripped in only 5 years, and I'm not a carpenter or anyone who would use them super often.

If you never have cam-out issues with pozidriv you must be kind of magician ;-) After I first tried torx, I never wanted anything else.

The only issue is that people always seem to think pozi and Phillips are interchangeable, and don't see any problem using the wrong size. THAT is what causes most stripping and camming on pz imo.

@@Knowarxana This is just what you think. I well recognize the difference between PZ and PH and I always use the exact matching size of bit but I still have issues. The biggest problems are screws smaller than 4mm in diameter, panhead screws and unscrewing. Who says that he never has camming issues in these cases is either amazingly skilled or just liar. With torx, you don't even need to push on scredriver. As I said - I tried it once and never wanted anything else. And with ball-torx screwdriver, you can even screw at an angle of about 20-30°. Try that with PZ.

Pozi is one of the worst human factor error inducing inventions in recent years. I'm happy Torx is ending the cursing and sweating when servicing parts which were last seen by a "oh, it's just a cross shaped screw head, I'll use my cross shaped screwdriver" person. Especially below M4 sizes it's almost impossible to see the lines and with a good amount of Loctite the damage is guaranteed.

@@m.a.6478 personally I'm a fan of JIS, but I can't count the number of stripped heads I've had to deal with on older Japanese motorcycles, where people have used Phillips, not realising the difference. JIS has a really satisfying positive lock. If it hasn't been wrecked by a Phillips, I've got out stuck screws that haven't shifted for 50 years. I shudder whenever I hear someone refer to a "cross head screw"

Pz is only good with a very high quality bit or screwdriver. Torx is much better because you can use the cheap stuff in most cases.

The whole ski industry uses posidrive

Not going to argue with that - I've stripped plenty in my time with inattention. My car uses Torx everywhere so I've had to buy a load of new screwdrivers (always a good day when you get to buy new tools 😀)

True. Although any fastener experience is improved through using quality tools and fasteners. I've rounded off Tx heads before, usually some user error involved where I've not cleaned out the broach before undoing the fastener. One of the good things about Pz (and indeed Ph) is that for typical DIY purposes you can do about 90% of your work with a #2, and the other 10% with a #1 and #3. So you can have a good stock of #2 and a few #1 and #3. I've actually got some #4 but never had anything that uses them. Whereas Tx, you need a good spread of sizes... They're more suited to engineered items, such as cars, where an engineer has determined the clamping force required and hence the fastener size and torque required. Whereas with wood we just shrug and say "yeah looks about the right size".

PZ is just Philips with extra steps. Garbage material still means you'll murder the profile. Square is great because neither the tool nor the material matters much.

Canadian tool maker, we use them all the time. My only issue is the US still using imperial fractions. We have to have 2 sets of tools for metric and SAE. Metric is so much better overall and I say that as someone who started on standard. Want to know tap drill size-subtract the pitch from OD of tap. 10X1.5 tap is 8.5 drill. 3/8-16 tap...Ok first i need to do long math to find its measurement in inches 0.375 now I have to use 1 over 16 for the pitch=.0625?? Now subtract .0625 from 0.375 to get a new decimal number and use a chart to find the nearest drill. I mean you get to know the standards quick, but what a waste of time. Love using a ballend to get at those bad angles or cut an allen to get into a tight spot. The robertson is still better than those for fitting like a collet in a bridgeport(milling machine) taper fit goodness. The square drive is not a robertson, hence the frustration with them. Though still better than junkie philips.

I've don't think I've ever seen a _self tapping_ hex head screw. In terms of what might be called "bolts", they're pretty much the default choice, but anything self tapping is either cheese head (slotted), philips, pozidriv or torx.

@@Croz89 They definitely exist, tho they most often use a different design than the classical cone-ish shape, instead having a drill-bit shaped section at the front followed by (almost) normal threads. a bolt is when a screw and a nut are put together, it's very commonly misused. Now that I think a bit more about it, maybe it's not as often used because wood is so soft you can't really slap a bunch of extra torque into the screw, otherwise the wood just strips, so you might as well play it safe and use a less torque resistant screw.

@@thorinbane ho yeah true I didn't think about that, milling machines (and lathes as well), have square sockets specifically for the chuck, some parts of the tool changing system (for manual lathes at least) and almost nowhere else ! I was wondering whether or not a square socket could transmit more torque (the angle of "attack" being 90° rather than 60° for an hex) , what's your opinion on that since you used both ?

How small do you go in driver bits and screw sizes? I generally prefer hex socket for anything technical but in my experience especially screws made for 3mm keys and smaller are very easy to strip even with good quality hand tools and if the screws are stainless steel the task becomes even more delicate.

Because of ford not just wanting to license them but buy the patent, he didn't want to leave the possibility of his manufacturing going down to any other company , let alone one across the river in a foreign country controlled by a competing empire, the british.

You'll use #0 Robertson a lot if you're using #4 wood or machine screws in Canada. :) Electrical is Robertson all day all the time - only an idiot would use a Philips driver - that includes in the US - for screws that aren't exclusively Philips.

Drywall screws are also very hard steel which helps prevent strip out. It's those soft tiny screws and cheap wood screws that always strip out.

@@ctrlaltdebug Indeed - (but) for drywall the torque required is too low for cam out, never mind stripping the head. Drywall screws are also nice and sharply pointed with hard/sharp edges on the threads - they cut into the wood really efficiently (low torque). (Oddly enough I have one of these screws on my desk as I write this...).

Philips are still annoyingly common. We rely too much on US stuff.

I don't know if it's the same everywhere in Canada, but here in Québec most screws sold in stores are either Square+Philips screws or Square+Philips+slotted screws. Yes we have Robertson-only screws, but they're not as common as the other two.

Those screws that come with hinges are almost invariably shitty and need to be thrown away.

I've never had trouble finding Phillips screws in Home Depot, Rona, or Canadian Tire. There are lots of options. The only time I've noticed a lack of Phillips was when looking at deck screws which were overwhelmingly Robertson. There were a couple models of Phillips off to the side in the specialty stuff, but the rest was all Robertson. Not that I'd ever want to use Phillips for driving in a 3 inch deck screw.

no way, squares round off way quicker than torx.

Use the correct bit size. Torx drivers that are too small can still turn a screw but will strip it. Torx is superior as it has more surface area contact. Square strips easier. Size is not relevant there, only surface area contact

I have had robersons screws cam out because not able to get a dirrectly seated angle on the screw and round out the bit. Torx don't really wear out unless you got a cheap bit. They would more likely snap off than wear out. I have found out that torx can work well enough on a slight side angle than robertson. They don't have to be fully seated or they don't work. each have their problems and benefits.

​@@gg-gn3reIt's actually about a great many things and no UKposts comment is ever going to go into sufficient detail to actually explain why one driver design might be more robust than another.

@@markjacobson4248 I just did

I also like “ he injured his best nosepicker”

As a Canadian, more like 7 shots of whiskey that could barely pass as gasoline

Yeah, but I laughed even harder when he said a Canadian screwdriver was a canuckleheaded idea.

@@robw9435 That one too. He was on fire in this one.

Same, once I converted to torx, I threw out all phillips wood screws. For bolts phillips is still quite common, as is allen/hex keys. allen screws can also cam out if they're made of softer types of steel but when made of proper hard steel you can put a lot of force on them.

I've always loved them. I had a whole bunch of floor boards to shut up recently. House flip. It had squeeky floorboards. Some course drywall screws and a Phillips with twist off stop. I'm drilling them in one after the other without a problem and they're all flush with the floor every time. I was done with the whole house in 10 minutes. No way I could do that with the inferior Robertson. Next step was to lay the bamboo flooring. As long as you have the right Phillips head it works amazingly well. Wrong head for the job is where the problem comes in. I even ran into a blue electrical box that someone broke a Phillips head off of. Into plastic. That was fun to get out. Google new screw heads. There's a whole bunch of wacky ones.

When I unscrew something I usually collect the screws from it but if it is a Philips head I usually throw it away. I tell everybody who uses my tools on Philips screws that if they cam out they are killing unicorns. When I buy something I need to assemble and it has a Phillips screw I feel like I just bought a brand new phone with USB mini.

On the Next Stumpy Nubs: Duct Tape. 🤣🩹

Mark of a really good electrician. All the slots on the screws in the house for the receptacle covers and switch plates are aligned, either all vertical or all horizontal And the receptacles that are switch-controlled are upside down.

Or was he just the face like Musk and never did any of the real work?

Same, tool maker/ machine tool builder. Robbie at home and hex at work.

That doesn't really surprise me that the UK had Robertsons. Many right hand drive Model A Fords were made and exported from Canada to the rest of the British Empire due to tax advantages (as opposed to shipping from Detroit). The Canadian made ones had Robertsons, so it is likely that they spread throughout the Empire that way.

@@va3ngc Brit here. I have a couple of sets of screwdriver bits that contain Robertson bits, but I've *never* seen a Robertson screw to test them on. Torx are quite common over here, and we also have Pozidriv, which are similar to Philips, but with parallel sides to the "crucifix," which avoids the infuriating cam-out problem. They also fit Philips screws better than Philips bits...