Thread: Wanting a quality set of screwdrivers

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

No, No, No and No!

Ten plus years ago I would have agreed with you. My 1983 vintage screwdriver set gave stirling service but was showing its age; I bought a replacement and returned it. Enough said.
Not Fit for Purpose

The 1983 set is still almost complete, still works well, and has that patination of experience.

The 2016 set had "twistable blades" and was returned.

Ok . Ill have a closer look next time I see a new set in what ever tool shop I see them next . You may have got a dud set ?
Or hopefully they only went through a dud period. I bought the last of mine many years before 2016. But Ive also pointed every apprentice , 8 of them, in the same direction when spending their money on new tools. All before 2016. Including my son who was my Last apprentice. That was 10 years back. And no body has complained about them once.

One thing is they were never plated like you say yours were in the link . And not plated last time I saw a new set. The little ones have that black acid treatment that I always forget the name of . But the standard set of flat and Philips head are not plated.
Last thing Id go near is a plated screw driver. Unless I had a found odd one that was free and I needed to turn a screw diver into a spike for marking out peg holes which is something I do on just about everything I make .
I did notice the quality of the Blow moulded cases was not as nice as the older sets I bought.

I'm going to stand by them until I have a closer fresh look because Ive always held them in high regard .
I hope they haven't gone downhill like you say from 2016 onwards.

Untitledaswqa.jpg

Hi Rob. I have always avoided that particular set of Stanleys because they felt so uncomfortable in the hand.

My first set of screwdrivers as an apprentice were the Stanley ones but found the later versions cheap and the tips too soft to hold their shape.
The $10 Craftright set were better quality with hard tips and a tang through the handle. They are not a nice refined tool to use though.

I've got a few different varieties of the german and Japanese drivers. Most of the bits I use are Wera, and I'm happy with them. I use the wera screwdriver handle less than the others though.

Surprisingly, I've found my two go-to drivers have become the Würth Zebra ratchet drivers - I have a stubbie and a t-handle, and they are excellent. The T is particularly useful when you need a bit more torque. A t-handle isn't something I'd ever really thought of having, and now wonder how I got along without it!

They're expensive, but well worth the $. You need a Würth account, but there are several of us on the forums who can help out if members don't have an account.

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Hi Rob. I have always avoided that particular set of Stanleys because they felt so uncomfortable in the hand.

I agree. I was given a set of these many years ago and apart from the smallest slotted driver which is mainly used for electrical work(ie mainly fingertip use) the rest have sat in their box.

About 20 years ago I found a 20L plastic drum with a bunch of hand tools in it in which the ends of the tools had ben glued together by about 4L of some sort of clear finish and the previous owner probably could not be bothered to recover them. It took little effort to get them apart and a bit of paint stripper easily removed the finish. Amongst these tool were 6 really nice rubber handled hard magnetic tipped drivers and these have been my goto drivers in my shed ever since.

My Wiha's and specialty hex and torx driver set I keep in my electronics room which is up in the house.

Originally Posted by auscab

Ok . Ill have a closer look next time I see a new set in what ever tool shop I see them next . You may have got a dud set ?
Or hopefully they only went through a dud period. ...

One thing is they were never plated like you say yours were in the link . And not plated last time I saw a new set. ...

My old Stanley set is not plated. The little screw drivers disappeared years ago and I cannot remember if they were black acid treated. I cannot say I even noticed the plating on the "doomed set" until it started to lift; I just wanted a new set of stanleys, chucked it in the trolley, and was disappointed.

When I returned the dud set, the store guy at M10 grabbed another set and tested them on screws on his counter - the blades twisted! "Sh*t; they're crap" - his words.

I bought a set of Grace screwdrivers. They are so nice. I think I bought them from the local Lie-Nielsen folks but they no longer sell them.

I did find another seller here: Grace Screwdrivers & Sets - Buy Grace Screwdrivers & Sets online in Australia | Brownells Australia

They are made in the USA and I highly recommend them.

Originally Posted by markharrison

I bought a set of Grace screwdrivers. They are so nice. I think I bought them from the local Lie-Nielsen folks but they no longer sell them.

I did find another seller here: Grace Screwdrivers & Sets - Buy Grace Screwdrivers & Sets online in Australia | Brownells Australia

They are made in the USA and I highly recommend them.

In use the flat bladed smaller ones bend - not recommended

The handles also feel a bit ordinary in the hand for me