I used to pickup sq drive general purpose screws at Home Depot. The brand was Western States. A 5# box was under $20 I think for 1-1/4 and 1-5/8. They also have 2", 2-1/2, 3" in the 1# box.
We moved, and neither my local HD nor Lowes seem to carry them. All they have are phillips drive except for coated deck screws.
Is square drive sort of falling by the wayside? Any recommendations for a general purpose woodscrew?
If you're looking for square drive, they are all over on the internet.
If you absolutely need a brick-n-mortar source, is there a woodcraft near you? Ours started carrying all sorts of square drive wood screws at competitive prices.
Also, don't be afraid to ask the HD/Lowes managers about them. Sometimes all it takes is knowing there is a demand for them to order them in.
walking down the street. ;-)
You can special order them through any HD or Lowes outlet, and at the same price as if they normally carried them, as your previous local HD or Lowes outlet did/does.
Sonny
The ones from McFeeley's in VA are good quality. In the early
90's, I picked a pretty afternoon and drove there to their warehouse/store from our home in Raleigh. The building was very unremarkable, but it was packed to the roof with inventory. I'm sure they're online now and unless things have changed, they are a 1-stop shopping experience for anything in Robertson drive. In my case, I loaded up with big boxes of the most frequently used sizes, plus enough to do my deck. I kept the big boxes way up on a shelf, refilling my little screw trays when needed.
Still common as dirt here in Canada
I see bunches of combo Phillips/square drive screws in the stores around here...
First time I saw them was in late 50's or early 60's. Was doing appliance work. Had a GE dryer made in Canada. Had to grind a screwdriver to a square to get it apart. ww
I get all of my screws from here,
The square drive screw was brought to Henry Ford's attention when he called on manufacturers to present a screw that would speed production iver the slotted head, way back when. He opted for the Phillips over the square drive because he apparently wanted exclusive rights to the screw which Robertson was not willing to give up.
I have bought them at Ace Hardware during the past year. RVs' also use a lot of them so you might check a service department for their source.
RonB
Which McFeely screw is a basic all-purpose?
If I do any nicer furniture/cabinet building I generally use few metal fasteners. Most of my screw use is for interior/exterior "rough" projects that either get painted or may come apart at some later time, or where I prefer the strength of a screw over a nail.
If I do any exposed exterior projects I don't mind buying the more costly coated screws.
I honestly suppose I could get by with phillips heads and go to the local HD or Lowes and buy the black oxide or yellow zinc. But I sort of got spoiled with sq drive.
kansascats wrote: ...
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The tips has a notch cut in it which acts like a drill bit, and the first few grooves have sharp offset ridges that cut threads into the wood. It means you don't have to pre-drill in many hardwoods, and you get less splitting in all woods.
To me, that alone, makes them worth every penny.
Define "all-purpose". ;-)
For exterior use I try my best to find stainless fasteners (not always possible). For interior it depends on my mood.
Stainless all the way.
McFeeley's is really good to deal with. I bought a couple of thousand yellow zink screws to fasten the subfloor down when we recarpeted my my previous house (didn't want squeaks when we sold it). I send an order off to them anytime I start a project and have an assortment of their stuff just in case.
I have long contended that when I take over the world, that the fasteners used in automotives will be standardized into 2-3 types of heads and no more than 3-4 sizes for most vehicles. A tool kit for disassembly will fit in your hip pocket. I promise to also standardize point of sale credit card/debit card terminals, ATM's, soap and towel dispensers in restrooms and will refuse to let retailers have mirror image floorplans in stores. When you walk into one Sam's Club, it'll be like the others and not reversed, for instance.
"Nonny" wrote in news:yiqNm.19578$We2.11119 @newsfe09.iad:
What about gas pumps? Some have that lever to flip up, others require you to press a button to start pumping, while others are happy to let you put the nozzle in the filler, wait for it to reset, and pump away.
Only please make diesel, kerosene, and gas nozzles completely incompatible with each other. The fuels are (except maybe kerosene), so why let one nozzle or the other even fit?
Puckdropper
Around here gas and diesel have different size nozzles.
Matter of fact, drove a diesel almost 400K miles, never found a nozzle that would have fit the small hole of a typical gasoline powered car.
Lew
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