A club magazine article reminded me of what an old English gentleman told me many years ago.
Looking at that old screw driver one sees a narrowed section-who can tell me what this is called and the reason for this shape?
I have always favoured this type, and what the old boy told me explains why.Whenever I see these screw drivers they are usually being abused, so I just confiscate them and clean them up. It takes a mighty tough screw to defeat one of these-and if it does happen one merely attaches a CrescentWrenchotherwiseknownasa Shifting Spanner….
Philip Marcou
Replies
As an admirer of the female form, I would have to guess that it is called the waist. What its use might be I have no idea.
Tom
The old 'London' pattern screwdriver philip made in sizes from about 4" to 22" in length. Larger ones often had a hole bored in the flat of the blade for slipping a bar in for added leverage. I have no idea why they have a narrowed waist nor its name, if it has one. Slainte.
Richard Jones Furniture
Just a guess but I think it is narrowed to provide clearence for your big fat fingers as you start a screw. Think about it, you have a lot going on in a very small area; screw, fingers, blade...they just can't all be the same place at the same time!
Speaking of strange screwdrivers, have you ever seen these "cranked" handle drivers that electricians use these days? Very weird but very practical.
Philip, I've seen dozens of those screwdrivers and all of them have a tapered thickness to the blade
Not a practical tool and dates back to the mid 1880's
The wedged tip tends to ride up out of the groove and in the process, chews up the fastener. Some people thing it's a classy looking fine tool .I believe it would best be used to open paint cans or as a tire iron.
Steinmetz.
Stein,
Can you confirm the accuracy of that last transmission, pending the composition of my next post?Philip Marcou
Phil,
And they are as useless as t88s on a horse
Stein
Stein, are you now talking about tanks? t88? You are rambling now, so I am unable to take you seriously.
Seriously, I like those screw drivers because the steel is good, and I just grind them to suit . Antique shops here have lots of them-cheap. Although I have been using the cap iron for that screw on my planes (with no ill effect note) for 30 years plus , I now have a specially shortened and ground one for this purpose. This came about because I got a Veritas-the cap iron is not suited to this use .Philip Marcou
Phil, What's wrong with using your cap iron to tighten plane iron screws? Been doin'it for years.
As for those turn screws, I must confess I've used them for repairing auto starters and generators (With the help of a crecent adjustable wrench'To remove or replace the winding cores. Also good to adjust car door hinges too.
I've been grinding screwdriver tips concave ever since I encountered stubborn slotted screws and mauled them with tapered drivers.If you think about it, wood screws up 'til about 1950 were all tapered too and hadn't evolved since the dark ages. Vibration makes them unscrew and get progressively worse, I've had to repair hundreds of doors where the hinges drooped as the result of those screws My toolboxes always contained plenty of Parker-Kaylon sheet metal screws to repair whole building's dragging doors. I still own a stubby square shank screwdriver with a bulbus ebony handle that my father used in the 20,s when he repaired Mack trucks (Chain drives)I must confess I have a C clanp fetich, but they are a bargain and I only buy drop forged made in USA types.Have you ever bought those black and red crappy plastic spring clamps from China? They have a nasty habit of snapping under pressure and flying across the room.
Gas prices have become so expensive now that we seniors have taken to carpooling to get to the poorhouse.(Made that up) ED.
Ed, I knew I'd get some sense out of you eventually!
In my books there is nothing wrong at all with using the cap iron for that screw-in fact I believe Stanley and the boys shaped it for that use. But there are some people who reckon it is a cardinal sin. I have just now got into the habit of using a modified driver like we have been talking about , because of the Veritas-I think the cap iron is ali, and anyway it doen't fit the screw slot.
I have never seen a spring clamp that looks as though it needs buying- in fact I don't have any.
Gas? I am still getting used to the fact that I can roll up to a gas ststion, any gas station and actually get it!Philip Marcou
Gas prices have become so expensive now that we seniors have taken to carpooling to get to the poorhouse.
Pick me up on your way.
polarseal, If you think about it ,a gallon of Corona costs more than a gallon of regular unleaded. Citco even tastes better than Corona.
( Less of that 'Skunky' aftertaste.) When we both go to the poor house, I'll drive both of us to drink. Steinmetz.
Edited 9/8/2005 3:51 pm ET by Steinmetz
Folks, and Steinmetz, the narrowed section is indeed called a waist.
The purpose of this shape is to increase the torque : when you turn on the handle by grasping the conveniently shaped wood part, and have turned purple, the blade actually flexes or twists slightly and transmits more torque to the screw.
Despite comrade Stein having seen dozens of these "not practical" tools it seems he has missed the fact that although the blade is thick and tapered, it should be ground correctly at the tip i.e concave, so that provided the screw slot is in good order the screw either comes out or the head breaks.I reckon these drivers are strong enough to be standard issue on North Sea oil rigs....
I haven't seen the type with the hole for a tommy bar that Richard has mentioned, but I assume this must pre-date the advent of the shifting spanner, Crescent wrench or KingDick.Shows how strong they were.
Phillip,
Of course those old "turnscrews" (I believe is the old English term) were used on woodscrews that generally had deeper and often sawn slots. As you pointed out, they aren't much good on modern screws with relatively shallow, die struck heads.
I've never seen an English pattern turnscrew of this type with a parallel grind at the tip. The ones that I have are tapered very gradually. I've never noticed a problem with them camming out of screws with deep slots.
David C.
Speaking of screwdrivers with slot bits and camming out take a look at the gunsmith supply catalog of Brownell. They have a screwdriver that comes with about 40 slot type bits in different widths and thicknesses in all total they have about 70 different bit sizes, they are all hardened and parallel ground. Not as pretty as the earlier pictured screw drivers but they work very nicely and help a lot with soft brass screws and screws that are set to tight.Troy
As an admirer of this classic tool, you might this book of interest. It is titled "One Good Turn - A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw." A quick and easy (albeit fascinating) read that features such historic notables as Archimedes and Leonardo. It is written by Witold Rybczynski. I got mine on Amazon. Really a cool book for tool nuts.
Edited 9/8/2005 4:26 pm ET by ThreePuttJoe
Thanks Three-how did you know I was a sucker for books like that as well as "strange" screw drivers? ;)Philip Marcou
CrescentWrenchotherwiseknownasa Shifting Spanner????
Oh gee.. I thought the curves were for openin' Beer Bottles..
As in POP-A-TOP (not Germany type)
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