Product Test
Rob Hawkins puts products through their paces
How many screwdrivers do you really need? Rob tries to fi gure it all out by testing a range of nine diff erent sets from Clarke, Draper, Laser and Sealey
Most of us have at least one drawer of a cabinet or toolbox rammed full of old screwdrivers, and if their handles and tips are chewed, they still have their uses, so they are impossible to throw away. Even an old flatblade screwdriver with a bent shaft and half of its handle missing can still be used to open tins of paint and stir their contents.
Perhaps, however, it’s better to invest in a good quality set of screwdrivers, dispose of all those battered old ones and free up some drawer space. If so, then one of the following nine sets of screwdrivers may be the answer. many screwdrivers do you really need? Rob tries to figure it all out by testing a range of nine different sets from Clarke, Draper, Laser and Sealey.
There’s a lot more to a set of screwdrivers than simply having a few of them to undo crosshead and slotted screws. Short stubby screwdrivers are handy for tight spaces, whereas ones with a long shaft help to access fastenings that are similarly hard to access. Large screwdrivers, especially ones with a chunky handle, help to apply more force when undoing a fastening, and soft-grip handles can save your skin, whereas a Hex-shaped shaft enables a spanner to be attached to it for extra leverage. A hammer through (commonly known as hammer thru’) shaft means you can hit the top of the screwdriver with a hammer to help shock and release a fastening.
Magnetic tips can help to catch a metal fastening before it falls into the depths of an engine bay, and it also helps with fitting a screw whereby it will remain attached to the end of the screwdriver.
The quality of those tips is also important. Whilst most screwdrivers’ shafts are made from steel and chromeplated to prevent corrosion, the tips aren’t. Instead, they may be tempered for greater durability.
One of the most confusing issues about screwdrivers concerns Phillips (PH) and Pozidriv (PZ) types. Most comprehensive sets of screwdrivers cover both, and include various numbered sizes in each range, but do you need all of them? Both designs or classifications were created by the Phillips Screw Company. The Phillips (PH) type was the first and originated in 1934 as an improvement over the slotted flatblade design. It has a crosshead design with four radial slots to achieve a better grip and includes a range of sizes.
In 1959, the Pozidriv (PZ) arrived as an improvement over the Phillips, offering eight radial slots in the head of a screw instead of four, and a range of sizes.
Nowadays, few of us pay that much attention as to whether a crosshead fastening is a PH or PZ type and what size it actually is – most range from PH0 or PZ0 to PH3 or PZ3, but lar
