So this last week one of my 20+ year old phillips head screwdrivers met its match when it hit the floor at the just the right angle to shatter the handle cleanly in two.
This thing has been with me since my uni days. It’s seen me through multiple jobs, cities, homes, and especially relationships. It was my daily driver¹. It wasn’t a particularly special tool in and of itself; it’s part of a small unlabelled toolset that I’m fairly sure was from a dollar store or similar. But it just felt right. The weight, the size, the balance… it was all so comfortably familiar.
I shouldn’t feel so emotionally attached to such a simple thing but when the new one arrived I couldn’t help but feel a sense of loss, even though my new one is undoubtedly a much better tool (wera kraftform plus, fyi).
¹ Pun intended.
If you are in Canada, you buy some PicQuic, and you only buy them for the rest of your life. Those screwdrivers are amazing. And ❤️ Robertson.
Will definitely look into these for future purchases, thanks!
Robertson is a Canadian National hero. He told Henry Ford to fuck off and left USA with stripped screws for 100 years. They are still so touchy about it they call the screws “square drive”.
Most people still don’t know Japanese JIS are not Phillips and you need JIS drivers.
Disappointing that they don’t have a hole you can stick another tool in for more torque. I’ve only needed it once or twice but it’s huge when you do need it.
A lot of screwdriver handles are shaped so you can use a wrench to get more torque
Seconding this. Got bought one when I started my job ~5 years ago, still going! The rubber that retains the bits does get a bit worn on the commonly used ones, but they are still holding for me currently.